What happened
On a recent flight operating as SK933, an aircraft traveling from Seattle, Washington, to Los and Angeles crashed into the waters of Santa Monica Bay. The aircraft had previously arrived from Copenhagen, Denmark, and underwent a scheduled crew change in Seattle prior to its final leg. At approximately 19:21 local time, while the crew was performing an instrument approach toward runway 07R at Los Angeles International Airport, the plane impacted the water roughly 6 nautical miles west of the coast.
The impact resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft type (not specified in source). The fuselage split into three distinct segments. Two portions of the wreckage descended to a depth of about 350 feet, while a third section—comprising the cockpit, forward cabin, and wings—remained buoyant for approximately 20 hours before eventually sinking in shallower water. Following the accident, the floating section was retrieved and moved from the site.
Of the 45 persons on board, the casualties were significant: 4 fatalities occurred due to drowning (comprising three passengers and one cabin attendant), while 11 individuals—consisting of nine passengers and two cabin attendants—remain missing and are presumed deceased. Among the survivors, 17 people sustained injuries of varying severity, including the captain, the second pilot, and the systems operator, while 13 passengers escaped the wreckage without injury.
At the time of the accident, meteorological conditions at Los Angeles International Airport included light rain and fog, with visibility reduced to 4 miles. The sky was reported as broken at 1,700 feet and overcast at 3,500 feet, with winds from 060 degrees at 10 knots.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified that a lack of crew coordination and insufficient monitoring of the aircraft's position during the instrument approach led to an unplanned descent into the ocean. Additional contributing factors included the failure to observe the minimum crossing altitude at an approach fix as specified on the charts, as well as an unsafe landing gear configuration likely caused by the design of the landing gear indicator lights.