Passengers 34 Injuries (non-fatal) 0 Aircraft type BAe 146 Site Morocco Survivor 0 | Crew 4 Survivors 0 Date 25 September 1998 Fatalities 38 (all) | |
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Summary Controlled flight into terrain aggravated by the aircraft crew following airline's faulty procedures Similar 1998 MIAT Mongolian Airlines cr, Myanma Airways Flight 635, 1998 Occidental Petroleu, 1998 Ariana Afghan Ai, Olympic Airways Flight 417 | ||
PauknAir Flight 4101 was a British Aerospace BAe 146 that crashed on a flight from Málaga, Spain to the Spanish North African exclave of Melilla. All 38 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the accident.
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The aircraft
The aircraft made its first flight in 1983 and was the seventh BAe 146 built. PauknAir had been operating the aircraft since it was established and was the second operator of the aircraft since it was built.
Accident
The aircraft took off from runway 14 at Malaga's Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport at 8:23 (local time). On board were 34 passengers and a crew of four. The flight proceeded normally, without any problems and with fair weather conditions.
The descent began at 6:41 (Morocco time; 8:41 Melilian time). In the area of Cape Tres Forcas (the headland on which Melilla is situated), low visibility is common, as clouds accumulate between the valleys formed by the steep mountains of the cape. The descent continued in Instrument meteorological conditions. In communications with Air traffic control, the pilot complained of the fog. Some of his last words were: "I see nothing"'.
At 6:49, there were two Terrain awareness and warning system signals in the cockpit of "terrain", which indicates that the aircraft was too low. The accident investigation concluded "Given the facts and analysis conducted, the Commission concluded that the accident was caused by a collision with terrain in IMC. This confirms the hypothesis put forward by members of the committee of investigation from the beginning of their investigations, it is a type of CFIT accident (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) due to a combination of several factors: