Accident Sequence
Less than two minutes after takeoff from Campinas-Viracopos Airport, at an altitude of 100 meters, the airplane struck trees, stalled, and crashed in a eucalyptus forest. The airplane was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. All 52 occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation presumed that the co-pilot was under flight instruction. If such was the case, the instructor, who was pilot-in-command, may have failed to brief or supervise the co-pilot properly. Separately, the Government of Argentina as State of Registry determined the cause as: "Failure to operate under IFR during a takeoff by night in weather conditions requiring IFR operation and failure to follow the climb procedure for this type of aircraft; a contributory cause was the lack of vigilance by the pilot-in-command during the operations."