A KESTRAL Convair C131F departed the runway in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, this morning, while making an emergency landing. The Convair had departed St Thomas on a Cargo Service with 2 Pilots onboard and was on its initial climb, when the tower notified the crew that they observed smoke from the left hand engine. The crew then declared an emergency reporting that the engine was on fire and that they had lost hydraulics. The crew turned around to return to St Thomas and according to ground witnesses, the landing gear did not deploy until the aircraft was about 100 feet above the runway. The Convair touched down on runway 10, however due to the loss of hydraulics, the crew could not slow the aircraft down. The aircraft veered right off the runway, broke thru an Airport fence and came to a stop on the Airport access road. No one onboard was injured. The Convair is currently undergoing a damage assessment. According to a Virgin Island Port Authority spokeswoman, this was the most extreme emergency landing the Airport had seen in over 15 years. An investigation into the incident has been launched.
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