What happened
During a morning charter flight departing from Egelsbach Airport, an aircraft carrying 32 people—including 29 passengers and three crew members—experienced a fatal sequence of events. During the flight, the captain vacated his seat, leading to passengers entering the cockpit area. While the flight was intended to follow the path of the Rhine River, the co-pilot became distracted by conversations with the passengers and incorrectly identified the Neckar River as the Rhine.
As the flight progressed, weather conditions worsened. Despite the deteriorating visibility, the co-pilot elected to proceed with the flight rather than returning to the departure airport. While flying at an altitude of approximately 500 meters, the pilot attempted a left turn. During this maneuver, the aircraft struck trees and crashed within the Hoher Nistler forest, located roughly 5 km northeast of Heidelberg. The accident resulted in 28 fatalities and left 4 passengers seriously injured.
Findings
Investigations into the accident highlighted that the crew's attention was diverted by passenger interactions in the cockpit. The primary contributing factor was the pilot's navigational error caused by distraction, which led to the misidentification of a river landmark.