Interesting airline and pictures, would not mind seeing more from this trip either.
Accoording to the AvHerald the crashed aircraft was XY-AIT, From the report I think there was nothing wrong with the aircraft at the start of events.
http://www.avherald.com/h?article=44b25a8c&opt=0
Accident: Air KBZ AT72 at Thandwe on Feb 17th 2012, runway excursion, gear collapse
By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Feb 19th 2012 14:45Z, last updated Saturday, Mar 3rd 2012 18:06Z
An Air KBZ (Air Kanbawza) Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-500, registration XY-AIT performing flight K7-243 from Hehu to Thandwe (Myanmar) with 30 passengers, was on approach to Thandwe’s runway 20 when the crew did not prevent the aircraft from veering left off the runway in the last stage of the roll out. The aircraft went through a sand bank and came to a stop with all gear collapsed on soft ground left off the runway about 20 meters short of the cliffs down to the sea. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received substantial damage.
The airline reported all passengers were safe and praised the captain for saving the passengers claiming the aircraft had landed without nose gear due to a hydraulic failure.
Passengers reported, that the approach to Thandwe was entirely normal, the flight deck’s only announcement was “Cabin crew, prepare for landing”. The aircraft did not delay or abort the landing, there were no unusual noises during final approach, that – in frequent flyer’s experience – looked excessively fast however. The passengers were surprised looking out of the window while already over the runway that they appeared to be still an estimated 500 feet above the runway, and a number of passengers went into brace position. The aircraft touched down normally, the sounds were all normal though perhaps a bit louder, it was obvious the aircraft had touched down with all three gear struts simultaneously, the aircraft bounced back into the air with all three gear, the main gear touched down again shortly followed by the nose gear followed by at least two more bounces, some passengers estimated the aircraft bounced a total of 6 times. Then “there was a loud crash and the plane dropped dramatically, followed closely by a second crash and then the sound of it sliding along the runway on its undercarriage.” Based on what passengers were told from observers on the ground the first crash most likely was the collapse of the nose gear, the second crash the collapse of the main gear. Later the day, after arrival at the hotel, the passengers, one of which spoke fluent Burmese, overheard the first officer and captain arguing, the argument suggested the first officer was pilot flying and it was his first landing. The captain argued the fault was with the first officer and the captain had saved the aircraft from going over the cliffs by taking control, the first officer claiming all of the events were ultimately the responsibility of the captain. The passengers were irritated to see how quickly locals congratulated the captain for saving the aircraft and its passengers.
The airline, operations started in April 2011, operates three ATR-72-500s, registrations XY-AIT, XY-AIW and XY-AIY.
Thandwe Airport offers a runway 02/20 of 1677 meters/5500 feet length.
No Metars are available, the local weather stations reported calm winds, visibility above 10,000 meters with no cloud, temperature 26 degrees C.
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