Flight Details
British Eagle Flight 802 departed London-Heathrow Airport at 12:04 GMT, destined for Innsbruck, Austria. At 13:35, the flight contacted Munich Air Traffic Control (ATC) and reported over the Kempten Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) nine minutes later. The crew then changed their Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan to Visual Flight Rules (VFR) from Kempten to Innsbruck.
Descent and Collision
Two minutes after this change, the crew contacted Innsbruck ATC and reported descending under Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) directly to Seefeld. Over the Innsbruck VOR at Flight Level 110 (FL110), the aircraft was still unable to break through the clouds. The last message from the flight was received at 14:12, when it reported at FL100. The descent continued until the airplane collided with the steep eastern flank of the Glungezer Mountain at an altitude of 2,601 meters (8,500 feet). The impact triggered an avalanche, which carried most of the aircraft debris downhill for approximately 400 meters. All 83 occupants on board were killed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined that the primary cause was the erroneous decision of the pilot-in-command to descend below the stipulated minimum safe altitude in the weather conditions prevailing at the time, as a result of which he was unable to conduct the flight in accordance with visual flight rules.