Accident Overview
A scheduled commuter flight from Reading, Pennsylvania, crashed while conducting a visual approach to runway 27R at Philadelphia International Airport. The aircraft had arrived in the Philadelphia Approach Control area as a VFR 'pop up' flight and was sequenced to land behind United flight 555, a Boeing 727 IFR arrival, on the same runway.
Sequence of Events
Witnesses reported that when the commuter flight was approximately half a mile on final approach, the aircraft began to roll from side to side, pitched up, rolled inverted to the left, and then flew into the ground nose first. All three persons aboard the aircraft were killed, and the aircraft was destroyed.
Wake Turbulence Encounter
The accident investigation determined that the loss of control was due to an encounter with wake turbulence from the preceding Boeing 727. The altitude at which the encounter occurred was too low for recovery. Additionally, the pilot failed to follow established separation and flight path selection procedures for wake turbulence avoidance.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause of the accident was the loss of aircraft control due to an encounter with wake turbulence from the preceding aircraft at an altitude too low for recovery and the pilot's failure to follow established separation and flight path selection procedures for wake turbulence avoidance.