What happened
On the day of the accident, a flight operated under US 14 CFR Part 135 regulations was traveling from Nice to Le Castellet aerodrome to park the aircraft. The flight crew, including a captain and co-pilot, and one cabin attendant were on board. During the approach to runway 13, the crew failed to arm the ground spoilers, which triggered a GND SPOILER UNARM message and an associated aural chime.
As the aircraft type approached the runway threshold at a height of 25 feet, the aircraft was slightly below the intended descent path, triggering a SINK RATE warning. The pilot flying corrected the path, but the main landing gear touched down 365 metres from the threshold and slightly left of the centerline. Because the ground spoilers were not armed, they failed to deploy automatically. Although the crew applied brakes and attempted to use thrust reversers, the reversers did not deploy fully, leading to slow deceleration.
Following the initial touchdown, the aircraft's nose gear hit the runway 785 metres beyond the threshold before the nose lifted again. After a second nose gear touchdown at 1,050 metres beyond the threshold, the crew manually deployed the speed brakes and reached maximum thrust reverser usage. However, the aircraft began curving toward the left. Despite sharp rudder and braking inputs, the aircraft skidded to the right and exited the runway 385 metres before the runway end at approximately 95 knots. The aircraft struck a runway edge light, a PAPI light, a metal fence, and trees, which caused an immediate fire. Despite the rapid response from aerodrome firefighters, the fire could not be contained, and the 0 fatalities were reported as the occupants could not evacuate.
Findings
- The crew failed to arm the ground spoilers during the approach phase.
- The failure to arm the ground spoilers prevented automatic deployment, contributing to insufficient deceleration.
- The thrust reversers did not achieve complete deployment during the landing roll.