What happened
On the evening of the accident, a private flight departed from Kassel-Calden Airport in Germany, bound for Toulouse-Blagnac under IFR conditions. The aircraft was operated by a pilot accompanied by three passengers, all of whom were members of the same family.
After approximately three hours of transit, the aircraft was cleared for an approach to runway 14R via radar vectoring and ILS. During the final stages of the approach, while at an altitude of roughly 900 feet, the pilot attempted to communicate a problem to air traffic control. The transmission was interrupted before the nature of the issue could be clarified. Shortly after this exchange, both radio and radar contact were lost.
The wreckage was located near the threshold of runway 14R. The accident resulted in three fatalities and one survivor. While two passengers were initially rescued from the site, the pilot and one passenger died upon impact. The remaining two passengers, children aged nine and 13, succumbed to their injuries in the days following the crash.
Findings
Investigations suggest that an anomaly involving the right engine occurred during the final approach, creating a power asymmetry. It is believed that the pilot struggled to manage this imbalance while simultaneously handling the high workload associated with decelerating and extending the landing gear and flaps.
Several contributing factors were identified:
- The decision to maintain a high speed through a cloud layer at night until reaching 1,000 feet increased the complexity of the approach.
- The pilot may have failed to monitor airspeed due to the intense workload and potential distraction by the runway approach lights.
- Deficiencies in type rating training, specifically regarding single-engine approaches near minimum controllable airspeed (VMCA), were noted as a factor in managing the engine anomaly.