Accident Overview
On a local training flight, a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 departed Aix-les-Milles Airport at 1520 local time. The aircraft was cleared to operate between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. It overflew Marseille, Toulon, and Le Castellet before the accident.
Flight and Crash Sequence
While cruising at 6,000 feet at 110 knots, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent. It dove into the ground at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute and crashed in a near-vertical orientation in a rocky area of the Sainte-Victoire Mountain Range, near Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. Both occupants, an instructor and a pilot under supervision, were killed.
Investigation Findings
The official investigation identified the probable cause as loss of control during an exercise at low speed, certainly in a single-engine configuration. Contributing factors included the absence of reference methods for conducting the exercise for instructors on this aircraft type, the exercise being performed at a height with insufficient margin (lower than recommended by the manufacturer), and insufficient vigilance on the part of the instructor (whose skills were unanimously recognized but whose instruction on the Beechcraft King Air 90 could not be established).