What happened
On March 15, 2012, at approximately 0740 Atlantic standard time, a Convair CV-440-38, registration N153JR, crashed into Laguna La Torrecilla near San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aircraft, operated by Fresh Air, Inc. as a cargo flight, had departed from runway 10 at Luis Muñoz May Marín International Airport (SJU) en route to Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten.
Shortly after takeoff, the first officer declared an emergency. The captain subsequently requested a left turn to return to SJU and inquired if air traffic controllers could observe smoke emitting from the aircraft. While controllers noted they did not see more smoke than usual, they cleared the flight to land on runway 28. As the aircraft began to align with the runway, it struck the lagoon. The impact destroyed the airplane and resulted in 2 fatal injuries to the flight crew.
At the time of the accident, weather conditions were visual meteorological conditions (VMC) with a visibility of 10 statute miles and winds from 120 degrees at 5 knots.