Accident CASA C-212 Aviocar 200 N432CA, Friday 8 May 1987

Date:	Friday 8 May 1987
Time:	06:50
Type:	CASA C-212 Aviocar 200
Owner/operator:	American Eagle, opb Executive Air Charter
Registration:	N432CA
MSN:	271
Year of manufacture:	1982
Total airframe hrs:	6264 hours
Cycles:	11774 flights
Engine model:	Garrett TPE331-10R-511C
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 6
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	0,2 km from Mayagüez Airport (MAZ) - Puerto Rico
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	San Juan-Isla Grande Airport (SIG/TJIG)
Destination airport:	Mayaguez-Eugenio M. de Hostos Airport (MAZ/TJMZ)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Flight 5452 departed San Juan at 06:20 for a VFR flight to Mayaguez. The flight to Mayaguez was uneventful until the base leg turn to finals for runway 09. Witnesses saw the aircraft making a tight turn (without extending the downwind leg as usual) and overshooting the extended centreline. The aircraft then made a violent turn and entered a high sink rate. The right wingtip struck the ground 643 feet short of the runway threshold and 67 feet right of the extended centreline. The plane continued 100 feet through a chain-link fence and a ditch before pivoting about 180deg coming to rest upright.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Improper maintenance in setting propeller flight idle blade angle and engine fuel flow resulting in a loss of control from an asymmetric power condition. A factor contributing to the accident was the pilot's unstabilized visual approach."

Accident investigation: