What happened
On 12 January 2014, a private aircraft departed from Shoreham Airport for a flight destined for Trier-F/öhren Airfield, with Luxembourg Airport as the planned alternate. The flight crew and two passengers had rescheduled the return leg to an earlier time on Sunday morning. After departing runway 20 at 10:00 UTC, the aircraft initially operated under IFR flight rules. During the descent, the pilot in command requested and received clearance to cancel IFR and proceed under VFR rules.
As the aircraft approached its destination, radar data indicated a series of altitude changes and turns. While tracking toward the airfield, the aircraft's altitude decreased significantly. Witnesses near the river Salm reported seeing the plane flying at a very low altitude, approximately 15 to 20 meters above the treeline, below the existing cloud cover. Observers noted that the engine thrust appeared to increase as the pilot attempted to pull up before hitting a wooded escarpment. Shortly after the aircraft banked left and entered the fog, witnesses heard an impact and saw fire.
The aircraft struck the ground in an inverted position. There were 4 fatalities among the two pilots and two passengers on board. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact.
Findings
Investigations into the crash identified several critical factors. The pilot in command chose to attempt a VFR approach despite having prior knowledge of the severe fog and instrument weather conditions prevailing at the destination airfield. It is believed that an erroneous selection on the navigation system likely caused the aircraft to fly an incorrect vertical profile.
Additionally, the crew's lack of situational awareness prevented them from aborting the descent before the impact occurred. The investigation also noted that insufficient Crew Resource Management (CRM) contributed to the sequence of events leading to the accident.