What happened
During a night flight transitioning from Geneva to Nice, a four-engine aircraft was traversing the Alpine region near the border separating France and Italy. The flight was transporting ten members of the Saudi Royal Family along with eight crew members.
While operating at cruise altitude, the crew was in contact with air traffic control services based in Aix-en-Provence. During the flight, controllers issued an instruction for the aircraft to descend to 10,000 feet. Shortly after this descent instruction, the plane impacted the side of Mt Matto, situated approximately 28 km southwest of Cuneo.
Search teams located the debris field the following day. The accident resulted in 18 fatalities, with no survivors reported among the passengers or crew.
Findings
Investigations into the crash concluded that the primary factor was controlled flight into terrain.