Accident caused by unprofessional piloting - AIN Alerts

PIC Blamed for Fatal 2014 Citation Crash

A January 2014 fatal crash of a Cessna Citation 501 was caused by the pilot-in-command (PIC) deciding to “conduct the VFR approach even though he was aware of the prevailing [IMC in fog] at the airport,” according to a newly released final report from the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU). The PIC, copilot and the two passengers perished when the twinjet struck obstacles 2 nm short of Runway 22 at Germany’s Trier-Fohren Airport, which is a VFR-only field. The U.S.-registered twinjet was being operated as a private flight by industrial company Theo Steil GmbH. The report also cited “insufficient situational awareness of the pilots” and “insufficient crew resource management.” Possible pressure by the passengers to land at Trier was also investigated. The son of one of the passengers told investigators that his father had called him on the morning of the day of the accident and told him that the airplane would probably land at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, where the forecast weather was VMC. He said it was “inconceivable” that his father would pressure the pilot to fly to Trier.