What happened
On the evening of October 14, 2012, a private Fly Sport aircraft, registration EC-XAY, crashed into the terrain in the Montes de Toledo region. The flight originated from a private estate in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville, with the intention of reaching the Casarrubiod aerodrome in Toledo. The aircraft was occupied by the pilot and two passengers.
As the aircraft approached the mountains, a witness observed the plane performing two clockwise orbits over the area between Navas de Estena and Retuerta de Bullaque. During this period, the area was covered by dense fog. The aircraft eventually struck tree branches on a steep mountainside at an elevation of 1,130 meters. The impact caused the aircraft to pivot and strike a rock with its propeller, leading to the total destruction of the aircraft and the deaths of all three occupants.
The investigation
The investigation examined the aircraft's maintenance history, the pilot's experience, and the meteorological conditions along the flight path. The Fly Sport was an amateur-built aircraft equipped with a Garmin 430 GPS and an electronic flight instrument system (EFIS). The pilot was experienced with this specific route and held a valid private pilot license.
Investigators analyzed the wreckage and found that the engine was functioning at the moment of impact, as evidenced by propeller fragments found near a rock. While the aircraft's GPS was capable of providing heading and speed data, it did not provide vertical separation information. Furthermore, no flight plan had been filed, and no aeronautical charts were found among the wreckage, suggesting a lack of formal flight planning.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the aircraft's failure to maintain necessary vertical separation from the terrain due to loss of visibility caused by cloud cover.
- The pilot was operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), but the meteorological conditions at the time of the crash—characterized by dense fog and visibility as low as 5 to 6 meters—were entirely unsuitable for VFR flight.
- A lack of adequate meteorological information regarding the route and insufficient flight planning were significant contributing factors.
- An excess of confidence in the GPS equipment likely contributed to the lack of formal planning and the failure to utilize aeronautical charts to identify safe altitudes and obstacles.