Accident Cessna 152 CS-AUI, Sunday 8 July 2001

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Date:	Sunday 8 July 2001
Time:	17:12UTC
Type:	Cessna 152
Owner/operator:	Aerocondor
Registration:	CS-AUI
MSN:	15283688
Year of manufacture:	1980
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Sintra mountain - Portugal
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Cascais aerodrome (LPCS)
Destination airport:	Cascais aerodrome (LPCS)
Investigating agency:	GPIAA
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
On July 8, 2001, during an instrument flight training mission, the aircraft Cessna 152, registration CS- AUI , owned by the Aerocondor Flight School, collided with the ground in the Sintra mountain.
The two occupants, the student pilot and the instructor pilot, were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Primary Cause
This accident was the result of the aircraft colliding with the ground in flight, due to descent below the minimum safe altitude recommended for overflying the area of the occurrence.
Contributed Causes
The following factors contributed to this accident:
1. The worsening weather conditions after the flight had commenced;
2. The deviation of the aircraft out of the assigned working area;
3. The decision of the pilot in command to continue the descent, with no visibility, in face of ATC's request to hasten the descent;
4. The loss of the minimum separation required by visual flight rules (VFR), without the pilot-in-command informing ATC and requesting to revert to instrument flight rules (IFR).

Accident investigation: