DH-8 ACCIDENT REPORT RELEASED

Release Number: 010414

4/23/2014 - DHC-8 Accident Report Released -- LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va.-Air Combat Command released an Accident Investigation Board report for the Oct. 5, 2013, crash of a de Havilland DHC-8-202 "Prospector" while flying a mission in the U.S.Southern Command area of operations. Four of the six crewmembers were killed and the two pilots were injured when the aircraft impacted the terrain in a remote area of the Republic of Colombia, approximately one kilometer south of the Panama-Colombia border. The DHC-8-202 was supporting a nighttime counter-narcotics mission.

The mishap aircraft was operated by Sierra Nevada Corporation under a contract with the United States Air Force. The crash destroyed the aircraft along with $7.2 million in U.S. government equipment on board.

The mishap aircraft departed a forward operating location in the Republic of Panama at 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 4, 2013, and proceeded to its tasked area of operations in the Caribbean Sea off the southeastern coast of Panama. The crew had detected a boat suspected of transporting illegal drugs and began to monitor it from an altitude of 1,500 feet above sea level. Although intending to remain over water during the operation, the pilots unintentionally flew over land and impacted the terrain
at 12:42 a.m., Oct. 5.

The board president found, by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of the mishap was the pilots' failure to ensure the aircraft remained over water, which resulted in unplanned night flight over land at low altitude, and subsequent controlled flight into the terrain. Additionally, the board president found four other factors that substantially contributed to the mishap: inappropriate delegation of terrain avoidance responsibility; ineffective communication among the aircrew; an inoperative Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System; and a lack of operational oversight.