History of the Flight
The pilot departed Fort-de-France, Martinique, at 11:33 UTC under a VFR flight plan bound for Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. At 11:40, he requested and was cleared to climb to 6,500 ft. Six minutes later, due to cloud cover, he asked to descend to 4,500 ft. By 11:54, he reported being abeam the south coast of Dominica and was transferred to Pointe-à-Pitre approach control at 11:58. The controller advised him of radar identification at 4,500 ft and provided QNH 1016.
The pilot encountered deteriorated weather with convective clouds and downpours. While maneuvering near Douglas-Charles Airport, he requested descent to 3,500 ft at 12:05, which was cleared. At 12:07, he asked to continue descent; the controller acknowledged. This was the last communication. At 12:08, the Guadeloupe controller contacted Dominica control about the flight, but Dominica declined to take over until the aircraft entered its airspace. Radar contact was lost at 12:11. The terrain in that area reaches about 4,700 ft. At 12:20, the emergency locator transmitter was triggered, leading to a distress phase declaration.
Pilot Information
The 59-year-old pilot held a valid private pilot license with SEP land and night ratings, and a class 1 medical certificate. He was employed by the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) as a pilot in the air navigation engineering corps, with additional training including a module on deteriorated situation management and blind navigation. He had logged 731 flight hours, with 334 as pilot-in-command as of January 2019. The autopsy did not reveal any contributing factors.
Aircraft Information
The TB20 F-GDNF was equipped with conventional radio navigation instruments and two artificial horizons. It had no onboard GNSS system, and the pilot did not use a mobile GPS. Maintenance records showed no anomalies. Due to adverse weather and access difficulties, the wreckage was not recovered but was observed from a helicopter at about 3,000 ft on a steep wooded slope.
Meteorological Information
Before the flight, the pilot consulted weather information online, including METARs from regional airports. METARs indicated variable conditions, with rain and low clouds at Martinique, good conditions at Guadeloupe, and scattered clouds at Dominica. The pilot mentioned to a colleague that conditions were not very favorable but expected improvement near Guadeloupe. Météo-France analysis showed extensive cloud cover with convective clouds over Dominica, with cloud tops up to 13,000 ft and bases estimated at 2,000 ft locally dropping to 1,300 ft in downpours.
Aftermath
The investigation was conducted by the BEA under delegation from Dominica. The pilot was fatally injured, and the aircraft was destroyed.