Incident Summary
On a positioning flight from São Paulo-Congonhas Airport to São José dos Campos, the crew experienced a hard landing that resulted in the aircraft being damaged beyond repair. During the descent, the captain transferred control of the aircraft to the copilot, who was still under instruction. On the final approach to runway 15, the aircraft was too high on the glide path. The captain then took over control but applied excessive inputs, causing the aircraft to roll to the right. The right wing struck the ground a few dozen meters short of the runway threshold. The aircraft landed on the main runway and came to rest there. Both pilots evacuated safely.
Flight Details
The flight was a positioning flight with no passengers. The copilot was in the process of initial training. The captain was not qualified as an instructor and had not completed any simulator training in over two years. The copilot had never completed any simulator training since beginning his training. The investigation noted a lack of crew coordination and poor judgment on the part of the captain.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the probable cause as: "The captain did not conduct a preflight briefing and then improvised during the descent by deciding to leave the controls to the copilot while he was still under instruction." Contributing factors included: the copilot being pilot-in-command on final during initial training, the captain authorizing the copilot to be PIC while still under initial training, the captain's lack of instructor qualification, lack of recent simulator training for both pilots, lack of crew coordination, and poor judgment by the captain.