Aircraft Crash Near Ceyhan During Positioning Flight to Jeddah (TC-JEP)

Incident Overview and Flight Details An aircraft departed Adana Airport runway 05 at 0036 local time on a positioning flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, intended to pick up Turkish pilgrims. Nine minutes after takeoff, while climbing to an altitude of 4,000 meters in poor weather conditions, the aircraft nosed down, entered a dive, and crashed in a near-vertical attitude in an open field near Ceyhan, approximately 30 kilometers east of Adana Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact, creating a large crater, with debris found at a depth of 10 meters. The accident was not survivable. ## Official Findings and Probable Causes The official investigation identified several factors that contributed to the accident. Severe weather conditions probably contributed to the cause. The Pitot static anti-ice system was probably not activated during preparations for flight because the crew failed to follow the pre-takeoff checklist. The crew failed to recognize the cause of an erratic airspeed indication and failed to use other cockpit indications for control and recovery of the airplane. Additionally, the presence of cabin crew in the cockpit probably distracted the attention of the cockpit crew.