SATA Air Açores Flight 530M

SATA Air Açores Flight 530M was a Portuguese regional commuter flight operated by SATA Air Açores that connected Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II Airport and Flores Airport, with an intermediary stop at Horta, on 11 December 1999. At 10:20 a.m., the British Aerospace BAe ATP, named Graciosa, while en route to Horta, collided with Pico da Esperança, on the central mountains of the island of São Jorge, resulting in the deaths of all 35 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident involving the British Aerospace ATP.

Flight

On 11 December 1999, the British Aerospace ATP (CS-TGM) with 35 people aboard began flight SP530M from Ponta Delgada (on the island of São Miguel) to Horta (on the island of Faial, as part of the first leg of the wider Ponta Delgada to Flores flight). The flight departed at 9:37 a.m. from Ponta Delgada, with a planned flight level of 12000 ft and cruising speed of 260 knots, with an estimated 51 minutes flight time. The flight crew consisted of captain Arnaldo Mesquita (55) and first officer António Magalhães (46).

The meteorological information (submitted by the Meteorology Institute (Instituto de Meteorologia)) forecast between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. in the islands of the Azores indicated a superficial cold front, with heavy clouds, moderate southwesterly winds changing to strong northerly winds, but generally weak in the central and western groups of the Azores. Wind strength for the itinerary ranged from 30 to 45 kn.

Accident

During the course, the crew decided to alter their flight plan, opting for a route that included approach descent over the channel between the islands of Pico and São Jorge, to intercept the 250 degree VOR/VFL Horta radial. Horta tower initially cleared the flight to FL100 (10000 ft), but the crew then requested (and were cleared) to descend to 5000 ft with instructions to maintain visual contact with the island of Pico.

At 10:03 a.m., the co-pilot had contacted the Santa Maria control tower to communicate that the flight was passing the LIMA-MIKE waypoint. The flight was planned for a route direct to Horta, but when the crew reported their position as LIMA-MIKE, the ATP had already drifted 14 nautical miles from its course; the crew did not indicate their awareness of the diversion. Approximately 43 nautical miles from Horta, the crew was authorized by the Horta tower to descend to 5000 ft and indicated their visual contact with Pico. During the descent, heavy rain and turbulence were encountered. The flight continued on its course as it descended, crossing the north coast of the island of São Jorge. But the crew had lost situational awareness and could not distinguish their barometric altitudes from the radio altimeter indicators.

The crew only realized that they were overflying the island from the verbal indication by the co-pilot and the final audible sound of the GPWS. Five seconds after the first alarm by the GPWS, the co-pilot reacted by pulling back on the throttles, and eight seconds following the alarm, the motors reacted. The plane began to recover its altitude and turned to the left. Seven minutes (10:17 a.m.) after initiating the descent, the left wing of the ATP impacted the northern hillside and eastern flank of Pico da Esperança and separated from the fuselage, at approximately 1067 m altitude on the island of São Jorge. The plane had continued its crash trajectory, rolling along a longitudinal path and inverting towards the sea before crashing. The GPWS alerted the crew 17 seconds before impact. No emergency call was received from the aircraft before it went down. There was no fire.