Accident British Aerospace ATP CS-TGM,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 323613

Date:	Saturday 11 December 1999
Time:	10:18
Type:	British Aerospace ATP
Owner/operator:	SATA Air Açores
Registration:	CS-TGM
MSN:	2030
Year of manufacture:	1990
Total airframe hrs:	11305 hours
Cycles:	23584 flights
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PW126
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 35 / Occupants: 35
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	São Jorge Island, Azores - Portugal
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Ponta Delgada-Nordela Airport, Azores (PDL/LPPD)
Destination airport:	Horta Airport, Azores (HOR/LPHR)
Investigating agency:	GPS
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
SATA flight 530 departed from Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, at about 09:30 for a flight to Horta on Faial Island. The weather en route was affected by a frontal system with scattered cumulonimbus, heavy showers, turbulence and strong winds from the southwest. The crew decided to alter their flight plan, opting for a route that included approach descent over the channel between Pico and São Jorge islands to intercept the 250 degree VOR/VFL Horta radial. Horta tower initially cleared the flight to FL100. The crew then requested and were cleared to descent to 5000 feet with the instruction of maintaining visual contact with Pico Island. During the descent heavy rain and turbulence were encountered. Seven minutes after initiating the descent, the airplane impacted the northern hillside of Pico da Esperança Mountain (1067 m high) on São Jorge Island in IMC. GPWS alerted the crew 17 seconds before impact.

CAUSES (translated from Portuguese):
The Investigation Committee determined that the causes of the accident were:
- Failure to respect the safety altitude - the en route controlled flight into terrain;
- Inaccurate dead reckoning;
- No proper use of airborne weather radar as an additional ease of navigation;
- Lack of cross-checking the information of the radio altimeter and barometric altimeters.

Contributing factors:
- Weather conditions in the area of the accident;
- Lack of autonomous means of navigation on board the aircraft, which could determine its position with greater precision;

Accident investigation: