Incident
The aircraft departed Tuxtla Gutiérrez Airport on a regular scheduled flight to Mérida with intermediate stops in Villahermosa and Veracruz, carrying 17 passengers and two pilots. En route to Villahermosa-Carlos Rovirosa Pérez Airport at an altitude of 16,000 feet and about 50 miles from the destination, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and deviated from the V3 Airway to the right for about 24 km. After the descent was initiated, the crew was instructed by air traffic control to report 25 DME. Shortly later, while descending in clouds, the twin-engine aircraft struck the slope of a mountain located near Chulum Juárez, about 80 km southeast of Villahermosa Airport. The wreckage was found at an altitude of 1,890 metres. The aircraft disintegrated on impact, and all 19 occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause was controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Combining instrument flight rules (IFR) with visual flight rules (VFR), the crew lost situational awareness, deviating 29.8 miles to the right of the Victor 3 airway due to bad weather, when weather conditions imposed the application of IFR, causing the aircraft to collide with the mountain at 6,200 feet elevation without loss of control.
Contributing Factors
The following contributing factors were identified:
- Severe weather conditions en route
- Persistence of the pilot in command to continue IFR flight under VFR
- Inconsistency in cockpit resource management (CRM)
- Loss of situational awareness of the flight crew and the controllers due to numerous route deviations caused by severe weather and poor communication
- Inadequate preparation of the flight plan, as flight altitudes outside controlled airspace were not verified despite the likely need to circumnavigate severe weather