Investigation Summary
The flight was a seasonal service popular with tourists traveling from Madrid to the Galician coast. Upon arrival at A Coruña, the crew was met with visibility well below landing minima. The captain made two initial approach attempts to assess the weather personally but was forced to pull up both times. After holding for nearly an hour, the tower reported a slight improvement in visibility. During the third and final approach, the aircraft descended below the safe glide path in thick fog. It first clipped eucalyptus trees on a hill in Montrove, then impacted several houses and caught fire. The investigation highlighted that the crew violated established flight regulations by attempting to land in conditions that remained below legal safety margins.
Final Conclusions
The official investigation concluded the probable cause was a pilot violation of regulations and instructions governing flight over national territory. Specifically, the crew attempted a landing in meteorological conditions significantly below the authorized minima for the airport, leading to a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT).
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Captain Francisco de Paula Macia
First Officer
First Officer Jose Maria de la Fuente
Flight Engineer
Flight Engineer Jose Maria de la Fuente (Note: Sources indicate a crew of 6 including 3 flight crew and 3 cabin crew).
Systems & Failure Modes
VASIS
Visual Approach Slope Indicator System; the tower reported these lights were intermittently obscured by fog during the approach attempts.
LRA VOR
The VHF Omnidirectional Range beacon used by the crew for navigation and as a fix for their approach procedures.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was named 'Emilio Arrieta'.
- 02One person on the ground was killed in the crash.
- 03There was initially one survivor from the wreckage, but they died at the hospital a few hours later.
- 04The crash remains the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Galicia.
- 05The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and a subsequent intense fire.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Adherence to Minima
The accident reinforced the critical necessity for flight crews to strictly adhere to published airport visibility minima and avoid 'visibility seeking' approaches in sub-standard conditions.