On 2 September 2011, a

CASA C-212 Aviocar The CASA C-212 Aviocar is a turboprop-powered STOL medium cargo aircraft designed and built by the Spanish aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). It is designed for use by both civil and military operators. The C-212 w ...

military transport of the

Chilean Air Force "With full speed to the stars" , colours = Indigo White , colours_label = , march = Alte Kameraden , mascot = , anniversaries = 21 March ...

( es, Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACH) on a flight from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Robinson Crusoe Island Robinson Crusoe Island ( es, Isla Róbinson Crusoe, ), formerly known as Más a Tierra (), is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, situated 670 km (362 nmi; 416 mi) west of San Antonio, Chile, in the South Pacific Oc ...

, Chile, crashed into the sea while manoeuvring to land. All 21 passengers and crew on board were killed. The aircraft was transporting a crew from Chile's national TV, and among the victims were presenter Felipe Camiroaga and journalist Roberto Bruce.

Accident

The aircraft was on a relief flight in support of operations in the wake of the

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking la ...

. It was operated by the 10th Transport Group of the Chilean Air Force. It departed from the

Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Arturo Merino Benítez) , also known as Santiago International Airport and Nuevo Pudahuel Airport, located in Pudahuel, north-west of downtown Santiago, is Chile's lar ...

, Santiago at 13:52

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(16:52 UTC), bound for

Robinson Crusoe Airport Robinson Crusoe Airport es, Aeródromo Robinson Crusoe, is an airport serving Robinson Crusoe Island, a Pacific island off the coast of Chile. It is part of Chile's Valparaíso Region, and is from Valparaíso. The Robinson Crusoe Island non-d ...

, with four crew members and seventeen passengers on board. The flight lasted almost three hours, hampered by adverse weather and strong winds. On arriving over the airfield, the plane overflew the entire runway and positioned itself for a landing in the opposite direction. However, due to strong crosswind, the approach was discontinued and the twin-engine went around for a second attempt. At 16:48, personnel at the airfield observed the aircraft performing a wide turn at low altitude; it then disappeared from view behind a hill without re-emerging. The C-212 had crashed into the sea between Robinson Crusoe and Santa Clara islands, killing all on board. Local fishermen and inhabitants later found the bodies of a man and two women floating in the sea. On 7 September, four more bodies were recovered. The accident was the deadliest suffered by the FACH since 1977, and the second deadliest accident in FACH history.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a twin-turboprop Casa C-212 Aviocar 300DF with tail number 966. It was manufactured in 1994 with serial number 443.

Victims

One of the victims was Felipe Camiroaga, a presenter with

Televisión Nacional de Chile Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) is a Chilean public service broadcaster. It was founded by order of President Eduardo Frei Montalva and it was launched nationwide on 18 September 1969. Since then, the company has been reorganized on sever ...

(''National Broadcasting of Chile''), who was traveling to the island for the '' Buenos Días a Todos'' show (''Good Morning Everyone''), to report on the reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake. He was accompanied by journalist Roberto Bruce and three other members of the TV channel.

Investigation

Investigators concluded that, while flying the downwind leg around the airfield at above the sea, a sudden loss of control caused the aircraft to roll almost inverted, lose altitude and strike the surface of the water. The loss of control was attributed to the adverse weather conditions prevailing at the time, characterized by strong, gusty winds arising from a

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...

passing through the area. Turbulence in the wake of surrounding terrain and

wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal ...

were also cited as factors in the loss of control.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilean Air Force C-212 crash, 2011 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2011 Air Force C-212 crash Accidents and incidents involving the CASA C-212 Aviocar Air Force crash 2011 crash September 2011 events in South America 2011 disasters in Chile