On May 12, 1996, a Beechcraft 300 Super King Air (registration OE-FEM) operated by Airlink Austria was involved in an aviation accident near Linz-Hörsching, Austria in flight. 4 people were killed. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The crew attempted to operate under visual flight rules while flying in instrument meteorological conditions, leading to controlled flight into terrain. This summary draws on records from the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives (B3A).
Aircraft registered OE-FEM. Photo: Hansueli Krapf This file was uploaded with Commonist . / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A twin-engine aircraft crashed into a mountainside northeast of Linz, resulting in the deaths of all four people on board.
What happened
While traveling from Salzburg toward Krems, a twin-engine aircraft was operating under Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). During the flight, the crew decided to cancel their Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan, opting instead to proceed using Visual Flight Rules (VFR) procedures.
Shortly after this change in flight rules, the aircraft impacted a mountain slope that was obscured by cloud cover. The accident occurred approximately 35 km northeast of Linz. There were four fatalities among the occupants of the aircraft.
Findings
The crew transitioned from IFR to VFR while flying in IMC.
The decision to fly under VFR in clouds led to the aircraft striking terrain.
Probable cause
The crew attempted to operate under visual flight rules while flying in instrument meteorological conditions, leading to controlled flight into terrain.
