Accident Overview
A twin-engine aircraft operating a private flight from São Paulo-Congonhas Airport to Porto Seguro crashed during its final approach to Porto Seguro-Terravista Golf Club Airport. The flight, which departed at 1831 local time, carried 12 passengers and two pilots, including Brazilian businessman Roger Wright and his family.
Sequence of Events
On approach, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with low visibility due to night. While on final approach to runway 15, the aircraft impacted trees located 900 meters from the runway threshold. It continued for approximately 700 meters, striking additional trees before crashing 200 meters short of the runway and bursting into flames. The aircraft was totally destroyed, and all 14 occupants were killed.
Probable Cause and Contributing Factors
The official investigation determined that the probable cause of the accident was the crew's decision to continue the approach in poor weather conditions following a high motivation to land at destination. Several contributing factors were identified: the crew failed to follow published procedures; they did not take the bad weather conditions into consideration and decided to land; limited visibility due to rain and night; weather conditions affected the pilots' perception, resulting in a loss of situational awareness; poor judgment of the situation and flight conditions; the crew continued the approach under VFR mode in IMC conditions; they conducted an improvised VFR approach using a GPS system; excessive approach speed; poor crew coordination; and lack of crew discipline.