What happened
On November 17, 2018, a Socata TB20, registration F-GKVZ, was conducting an IFR flight from Laval-Entrammes to Dinard - Pleurtuit - Saint-Malo. The aircraft was occupied by two co-owners. The pilot in the right seat held an instrument rating (IR) but lacked specific training for RNAV (GNSS) approaches, while the pilot in the left seat was a private pilot without instrument qualifications.
During the approach to runway 35, the aircraft experienced lateral deviations from the centerline. While the pilot appeared to be correcting these deviations, the aircraft's vertical descent rate increased to 800 ft/min. Shortly after receiving landing clearance from the tower, the aircraft disappeared from radar. Witnesses observed the aircraft emerging from a low cloud layer at a very low altitude, striking the treetops, and crashing into a nearby pond. The two fatalities were confirmed at the scene, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation
The BEA examined the aircraft's avionics, noting it was equipped with a Garmin 400 suite capable of non-precision RNAV approaches, though the autopilot was not coupled to this system. Investigators found that the cockpit configuration was optimized for the left seat, making instrument monitoring difficult for the qualified pilot in the right seat.
A notable finding was that the directional gyro mode selector was set to "FREE," which subjects the instrument to precession and makes it harder to maintain a stable heading. The investigation also reviewed the weather conditions, which included fog and a cloud ceiling as low as 100 ft, significantly below the altitude required for visual references.
Findings
The primary cause of the accident was the collision with vegetation and water during an approach without external visual references. Several contributing factors were identified:
- The lack of IFR qualification for the pilot in the left seat.
- The lack of specific PBN (RNAV) training for the pilot in the right seat.
- The placement of the instrument-rated pilot in the right seat, which hindered effective monitoring of navigation instruments.
- The pilot in the right seat's limited recent experience flying in instrument conditions.
- An erroneous risk assessment or mutual overestimation of skills by the crew.