What happened
On the evening of January 14, a flight departed from Sidi Slimane Air Force Base as part of a scheduled 2.5-hour training mission alongside two other aircraft. After ascending to 2,000 feet and traveling southwest, the crew began performing various maneuvers and circuits at an altitude of 1,000 feet. As the aircraft turned toward Azemmour to return to its base, the right engine experienced a failure.
In an attempt to maintain flight, the pilot increased power to the remaining left engine; however, this engine also failed shortly after the initial malfunction. The crew attempted an emergency landing in a field situated near Cap Blanc, approximately 15 kilometers southwest of El Jadida. During the descent, which occurred at a rate of 300 feet per minute with the landing gear extended, the aircraft reached the ground at a speed of 130 knots.
After traveling a short distance across the field, the aircraft type collided with a rocky wall, resulting in the total loss of both engines. Emergency responders reached the wreckage at 0200LT on January 15. The accident resulted in two fatalities and two serious injuries among the crew.
Findings
While investigators could not definitively establish why the right engine initially failed, they concluded that the failure of the left engine was caused by a pilot error during the execution of emergency maneuvers.