PauknAir Flight 4101 was a

British Aerospace 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro International ...

that crashed on a flight from

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, Spain, to the Spanish North African

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

on 25 September 1998. All 38 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the accident.

The aircraft

The aircraft, a British Aerospace 146 series 100 (BAe 146-100), made its first flight in 1983 and was the seventh BAe 146 built and was originally delivered to

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

and it was transferred to Dan-Air London a year later. After the aircraft spent several years in storage, PauknAir took over the aircraft when the airline commenced operations in September 1995.

Accident

The aircraft took off from runway 14 at Malaga's Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport at 8:23 AM Spanish time on 25 September 1998. On board were 34 passengers and a crew of four. The flight was under the command of 39-year old Captain Diego Clavero Muñoz and 28-year old First Officer Bartolomé Jiménez. The flight proceeded normally, without any problems and with fair weather conditions. The descent began at 8:41 Melilian time (6:41 Moroccan time). In the area of

Cape Tres Forcas Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco. Geography The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, this ...

(the headland on which Melilla is situated), low visibility is common, as clouds accumulate between the valleys formed by the steep mountains of the cape. The descent continued in

Instrument meteorological conditions In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is a METAR, flight category that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to Flight instruments, instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rule ...

. In communications with

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

lers, the first officer complained of the fog. Some of his last words were: "I see nothing". At 6:49, there were two

terrain awareness and warning system In aviation, a terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) is generally an on-board system aimed at preventing unintentional impacts with the ground, termed "controlled flight into terrain" accidents, or CFIT.Federal Aviation AdministrationInsta ...

(TAWS, also known as GPWS) alerts of "terrain" in the cockpit, which indicates that the aircraft was too low. At 6:50, the aircraft impacted terrain at 886 feet elevation and broke up. The accident investigation concluded "Given the facts and analysis conducted, the Commission concluded that the accident was caused by a collision with terrain in IMC. This confirms the hypothesis put forward by members of the committee of investigation from the beginning of their investigations, it is a type of CFIT accident (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) due to a combination of several factors: * Non-application of the arrival procedure, including descending below the minimum safe altitude * Inadequate crew coordination * Non-application of company procedures regarding GPWS alarm."

References

External links

Resumen del accidente
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1998 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1998 Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain Accidents and incidents involving the British Aerospace 146 Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain 1998 in Spain September 1998 events in Europe