Accident Sequence
The aircraft, chartered by the Dutch Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) to transport the force's brass band from Italy to the Netherlands, arrived at Verona-Villafranca at 13:33. Forty passengers boarded, and the Hercules departed at 15:04 for a short flight to Rimini, landing at 15:31. After three passengers deplaned, the Hercules took off again at 15:55 heading for Eindhoven.
Descending into Eindhoven, the crew contacted Eindhoven Tower at 18:00. The tower cleared the flight for approach, instructing: "Okay, you may continue descent for 1000, as number one in traffic, for a direct final course runway 04, QNH 1027." After the crew reported the runway in sight, the tower cleared the aircraft to land: "610 is cleared to land runway 04, the wind from 360° 10 knots."
Possibly as a result of the presence of a large number of birds near the runway, the copilot initiated a go-around. Birds were ingested by both left-hand engines (n°1 and 2), causing both engines to lose power. For reasons unknown, the crew shut down engine n°3 and feathered the propeller. The plane then turned left and crashed off the left side of the runway.
Emergency Response
Within seconds, a fire erupted, fed by oxygen from the aircraft's oxygen system. Some emergency exits in the main cabin were unreachable because of the fire, while other exits could not be opened due to twisting of the fuselage. The fact that a large number of passengers were on board was not immediately clear to the firefighters. It took approximately 23 minutes before passengers were noted in the main cabin.
Probable Cause
The accident was initiated, most probably as a reaction to observing birds, by the go-around which was made at a low altitude during which a flock of birds could no longer be evaded. The accident became inevitable when:
- Bird ingestion in the two left engines occurred due to which the power of these two engines was lost,
- As a result of power loss, the aircraft became uncontrollable at a very low altitude and crashed.
The relative low experience of the crew was a contributing factor.