Investigation Summary
The accident occurred in daylight conditions under visual meteorological conditions (VMC). The aircraft, operated by Flamenco Airways as a scheduled Part 135 flight, was taxiing toward the runway when the collision occurred at the intersection of a north-south taxiway and an east-west access road. This access road was designated as a non-movement area under the jurisdiction of the Puerto Rico Port Authority. According to a control guard witness, the vehicle driver did not stop at the posted stop sign on the east side of the taxiway. The pilot reported that he did not see the slow-moving vehicle approaching from the east prior to the impact. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, but no fire or explosion occurred.
Final Conclusions
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause to be the vehicle driver's disregard of procedures and directives by failing to yield at the stop sign. A contributing factor was the pilot in command's inadequate visual lookout during taxi operations.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Hours on type represents total PIC time as reported.
Systems & Failure Modes
Visual Lookout
The primary method for avoiding ground collisions in non-movement and movement areas during taxi operations.
Interesting Facts
- 01The access road was a designated non-movement area controlled by the Puerto Rico Port Authority.
- 02The vehicle driver was the sole fatality in the accident.
- 03The pilot had accumulated 8,400 total flight hours at the time of the accident.
- 04The aircraft had undergone an AAIP inspection only 27 flight hours prior to the event.
- 05Weather conditions included 15 miles of visibility and scattered clouds at 2,500 feet.
Location
NO VERIFIED COORDINATES · This position predates coordinate provenance tracking. Treat it as an approximate marker for the area, not the accident site. No map is shown, because a marker here would imply a precision the record does not have.
Reported location: San Juan, Puerto Rico