Near-miss with terrain during night approach at Nice Côte d'Azur (EK20018)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On 30 December 2011, at approximately 18:29 UTC, a Bombardier CRJ200 with registration EK20018, operated by Armavia, experienced a near-collision with the ground during a night approach to Nice Côte d'Azur. The flight was a non-scheduled passenger transport from Yerevan, Armenia, to Nice. The crew consisted of a pilot-in-command and a co-pilot. No injuries or damage were reported. ## Approach and Deviation The crew was initially cleared for a VOR approach to runway 04L but subsequently transitioned to the VORb approach for runway 22R. During the final approach, the aircraft passed below the published minimums of 1,500 ft and deviated to the right of the approach axis. The Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) system triggered an alert lasting 41 seconds, followed by an Area Proximity Warning (APW) lasting 1 minute and 18 seconds. The aircraft reached a descent rate of 1,700 ft/min and descended to 550 ft before the crew initiated a go-around. ## Recovery and Landing After climbing to 1,150 ft, the crew requested to interrupt the approach. The controller issued further radar vectors, and the aircraft deviated from the published path again during a second attempt. The MSAW triggered briefly for three seconds as the aircraft overflew Cap Ferrat at 1,200 ft. The crew eventually landed safely on runway 22R. ## Crew and System Information The pilot-in-command had 20,500 total flight hours, including 913 on type, and had completed familiarization training for Nice. The co-pilot had 14,130 total hours, including 434 on type, and had not completed the specific airport familiarization course, which was not required by the operator. The MSAW system at Nice had a high rate of unwanted alerts, with 55 out of 57 alerts in January 2012 classified as undesirable.