FA20, vicinity Narsarsuaq Greenland, 2001

FA20, vicinity Narsarsuaq Greenland, 2001

Summary

On 5 August 2001, a Dassault Falcon 20 with an inoperative GPWS making a night approach to Narsarsuaq by visual reference impacted terrain 4.5 nm from the aerodrome. The Investigation noted the original crew intention to fly a non-precision instrument approach and attributed the accident to the failure of the crew to follow applicable procedures or engage in meaningful CRM as well as to deficiencies in the Operator's required procedures which had combined to leave the crew vulnerable to a 'black hole' effect. The effects of fatigue were considered likely to have been contributory.

Description

On 5 August 2001, a Dassault Falcon 20 (D-CBNA) being operated by Naske Air on a non-scheduled cargo flight from Keflavik, Iceland to Narsarsuaq, Greenland failed to complete an approach at destination in night VMC and was subsequently found to have impacted mountainous terrain 4.5nm from the airport. The two pilots and one company employee passenger were killed and the aircraft was destroyed by the impact and a post-crash fire.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Danish AIB. The accident aircraft was equipped with both an FDR and a CVR and both were recovered with no significant damage. On examination, the FDR was found to be malfunctioning and only poor quality audio data were obtained from the CVR due to a lot of background noise on the area microphone channel which meant only a partial transcript of flight crew communication could be made. However, the NVM from the GPS installed in the aircraft was recovered and provided useful flight data.

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