Accident Overview
A single-engine aircraft operating a charter flight from Trujillo to Pucallpa was destroyed when it impacted terrain in a mountainous area of Cajamarca Province. All three occupants—two pilots and one passenger—were killed. There was no post-crash fire.
Flight and Weather Conditions
While cruising over the Cajamarca Province, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions characterized by heavy rain. The pilot modified the route and continued under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in good weather conditions. However, the aircraft was flying at an insufficient altitude when it struck the ground and crashed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined that the accident resulted from a loss of situational awareness by the pilots. The pilots failed to maintain continuous surveillance during VFR flight in good weather conditions and did not make timely corrections of direction or altitude. This ultimately led to the aircraft not clearing the terrain on the newly adopted route, resulting in a probable aerodynamic loss at the limit of aircraft performance and a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accident.
Contributing Factors
Contributing factors identified by the investigation include:
- Limited or poor use of the available GPS Terrain Proximity Warning system.
- Poor or erroneous appreciation of the weather conditions at the start of the flight, which prompted a route change that led them to fly over terrain with higher elevation.
- Limited appreciation of the terrain height on the new route relative to the selected cruising altitude.