Accident Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III N831BC,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 320629

Date:	Monday 2 December 2013
Time:	20:10
Type:	Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III
Owner/operator:	IBC Airways
Registration:	N831BC
MSN:	AC-654B
Year of manufacture:	1986
Total airframe hrs:	33888 hours
Cycles:	35698 flights
Engine model:	Garrett TPE331-11U-612G
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	2 km SSW of La Alianza, Arecibo - Puerto Rico
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Cargo
Departure airport:	Santo Domingo-Las Américas José Francisco Peña Gómez Int'l Airport (SDQ/MDSD)
Destination airport:	San Juan-Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU/TJSJ)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A Swearingen Metro cargo plane impacted terrain near La Alianza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Both crew members were killed.
The flight departed Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at 19:36 on a cargo service to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Last radio contact with the flight was about 20:08 when the flight was descending from 11,000 feet to 7,000 feet. The controller then advised the crew to maintain 3,000 feet, expect the ILS approach, and proceed direct to the "TNNER" fix, and that information "Tango" was in effect. After a crewmember read back the information, there were no further transmissions from the airplane.
The airplane had descended to 8,300 feet by 20:10:08. It then made a 20-degree turn to the left, and by 20:10:13, had descended to 7,300 feet. It subsequently made a 45-degree turn to the right, and had descended to 5,500 feet by 20:10:18. There were no additional verifiable altitude positions.
Descent calculations between 20:10:08 and 20:10:13 indicated a rate of descent of about 12,000 feet per minute (fpm), and between 20:10:13 and 2010:18, over 21,000 fpm. Preliminary groundspeed calculations indicated about 290 knots.
Weather at the time was fine with a visibility of 10 miles, a few clouds at 7,000 feet, and scattered clouds at 10,000 feet.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The flight crew's excessive elevator input during a rapid descent under night lighting conditions, which resulted in the overstress and breakup of the airplane. Contributing to the accident was an initial loss of airplane control for reasons that could not be determined because postaccident examination revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation."

Accident investigation: