What happened
On the day of the accident, the pilot personally managed the loading and preparation of the aircraft. The intended route was a mixed-rule flight departing from Egelsbach, south of Frankfurt, with a destination of Samedan in the Engadine. The flight plan specified a transition from visual flight rules to instrument flight rules at waypoint RID, followed by a return to visual flight rules after passing waypoint GERS_A. The flight was estimated to last 75 minutes, with a total endurance of 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Departure from Egelsbach occurred at 10:09 local time. At 10:37, the pilot communicated with Swiss Radar Lower Sector North, reporting an inbound status to Trasadingen at flight level 210. Following instructions to proceed toward GERSA, the pilot contacted Radar Lower Sector South at 10:45. Per air traffic control directions, the aircraft descended from flight level 210 to flight level 170 and was directed toward Samedan.
At 11:10, the pilot transitioned back to visual flight rules and ended communications with the Lower Sector South controller. After several attempts to establish contact with the Samedan aerodrome frequency, the pilot successfully communicated at 11:15. At 11:18, the pilot reported being positioned over the aerodrome and expressed an intention to fly eastward to descend below the cloud ceiling. Shortly after this final transmission, witnesses observed the aircraft dropping from the clouds in an uncontrolled manner. The aircraft struck the ground in a flat spin with almost no forward momentum. The impact resulted in the destruction of the aircraft and five fatalities.
Findings
Witness accounts indicate that the aircraft entered a flat spin during its final descent through the clouds.