What happened
On 11 July, an aircraft departed Zurich at 20:43 local time. The flight proceeded without incident until early the following morning. At 01:00, the crew contacted Sale Tower to inquire about meteorological conditions and were informed of heavy ground fog with visibility reduced to only 10 meters (30 feet). Following this report, the flight indicated its intention to divert to Casablanca as an alternate.
By 01:06, the aircraft reported being five miles from Casablanca-Anfa (CAS) and requested descent clearance along with landing instructions. The tower instructed the pilot to contact them once on the downwind leg. At 01:10, the tower notified the crew they were first in the landing sequence and provided wind information of 040 degrees at 4 knots. The pilot responded that they would provide an update upon passing the range station.
The aircraft passed over the airfield at 01:13. Three minutes later, the pilot reported an altitude of 400 meters (1300 feet) and a cloud ceiling of 150 meters (500 feet). Subsequent weather updates from the tower indicated that visibility had dropped to 100 meters (330 feet). At 01:22, the crew requested permission to divert to Casablanca-Nouasseur Airport (CMN), but were instructed by the tower to wait. During a period when air traffic control was coordinating this diversion request with American authorities at Nouasseur, the aircraft crashed at 01:25. The impact occurred near runway 03, roughly 8 miles from the threshold.
Findings
Investigators examined several potential factors, including electrical or material failure and sudden maneuvers to avoid other aircraft, but found no evidence to confirm these as definitive causes. While the investigation could not establish a single certain cause, it noted that unfavorable weather conditions remained a significant factor, specifically the possibility that the crew attempted a rapid descent through low visibility between the cloud base and the ground fog.