Investigation Summary
The flight was a multi-leg journey from Beirut to Rio de Janeiro with scheduled stops in Rome and Monrovia. During the approach to Monrovia, the crew encountered a series of procedural deviations. Although air traffic control cleared the flight to descend to 3,000 feet, the crew maintained 4,500 feet until they were directly over the airport. Upon sighting the runway lights from this high vantage point, the captain decided to execute a full VOR/Locator instrument let-down rather than a straight-in visual approach or a missed approach. During the final stages of the approach, the aircraft entered a layer of stratus and fog. The captain instructed the co-pilot to stop calling out altitude and speed and instead focus on spotting the runway. When the aircraft reached the 'FR' locator beacon, it was at 800 feet, significantly higher than the required 520 feet. The captain then reduced power and pitched the nose down to achieve a descent rate of 1,200 to 1,500 feet per minute, double the standard rate. The aircraft impacted the ground in a nose-high attitude but with a high sink rate, sliding 850 feet before coming to rest and being consumed by fire.
Final Conclusions
The investigation concluded that the primary cause was the pilot-in-command's failure to arrest a high rate of descent initiated at low altitude. The captain chose to continue a dangerously unstable approach instead of executing a missed approach when he realized the aircraft was too high over the locator beacon. Contributing factors included the captain's disregard for Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) during the final approach and the decision to stop altitude callouts upon entering clouds, which deprived the crew of critical situational awareness during the final seconds of flight.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
First Officer
Systems & Failure Modes
VOR/Locator
The primary navigation aid used for the approach; the pilot failed to follow the prescribed altitude profile associated with this procedure.
DME (Distance Measuring Equipment)
Investigators noted the captain failed to use available DME data to monitor his distance from the runway during the final approach.
Interesting Facts
- 01The accident remains the deadliest aviation disaster in the history of Liberia.
- 02Five people on the ground were killed when the aircraft crashed into a house.
- 03Of the 19 crew members on board, the flight engineer was the only fatality.
- 04The aircraft was a Douglas DC-8-33 manufactured in 1959, with over 16,000 airframe hours.
- 05Thirty-nine people survived the crash and subsequent fire.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Stabilized Approach Criteria
The accident highlighted the dangers of attempting to salvage unstable approaches, reinforcing the industry-wide requirement to execute a missed approach if specific altitude and descent rate parameters are not met by a 'gate' (typically 500 or 1,000 feet).
Airport Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) Response
The investigation noted that while the fire crew acted promptly, their limited force and the time required to reach the crash site outside airport boundaries hindered rescue efforts, highlighting the need for adequate off-airport response capabilities.
Location
ACCIDENT SITE · Coordinates taken from the wikipedia geotag.