2012 Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crash
Air Class Líneas Aéreas, on behalf of DHL Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III · Loss of control due to erroneous indications from flight instruments, causing loss of situational awareness of the pilots
From Carrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD) to Ezeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (EZE)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA12WA119
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III
- Aircraft type
- Fairchild Swearingen SA227
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- CX-LAS
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Carrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)To Ezeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (EZE)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Unknown
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 6 June 2012, an Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Metroliner cargo aircraft crashed near Isla de Flores, Uruguay shortly after takeoff from Montevideo Airport, carrying freight for DHL. Both of its occupants perished. Its wreckage was missing for over a month until a scuba diver located it 2 km southwest of the Isla de Flores.
Accident
The flight departed Montevideo Airport's runway 24 at about 19:55 local time. During its climb to flight level 080 (FL80), the flight conducted a left turn. The controller contacted the flight, and shortly after the pilots answered that they would change course to the SARGO Waypoint. Just after that exchange, the flight crashed into the waters of the Rio de la Plata, killing both pilots.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and conclusions
The Uruguayan Aviation Accidents and Incidents Investigation Commission, part of the ministry of national defence, headed the investigation. According to their report, the aircraft impacted the water at an angle of about 88º nose down at a speed of 1027 km/h or about 554 knots.
The report mentions that the main contributing factors for the crash were; an omission from the crew of a passage by the meteorological Office to collect information on the weather situation, the omission or erroneous execution of some checklists and the fact that the instruments powered by 115 Volts AC were not energized, which put together make the probable cause of the accident a loss of control due to erroneous indications from flight instruments, causing loss of situational awareness of the pilots.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2012 Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crash” (revision 1358593848, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
On June 6, 2012, at approximately 2300 UTC time, a Fairchild SA227, s/n AC-482, operated by Aero VIP Ltd as a cargo flight, departed from Carrasco/General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport, Montevideo, Uruguay. During initial climb, radar contact with the aircraft was lost, and the aircraft crashed into the Rio de la Plata. The wreckage was located on July, 20, 2012. The two flightcrew were fatally injured, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation is being conducted by the Oficina de Investigacion y Prevencion de Accidentes de Aviacion (OIPAIA) of Uruguay. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacture and Design of the airplane, and as the State of Manufacture of the engines.
All inquiries should be directed to the OIPAIA at:
Direccion Nacional De Aviacion Civil E Infraestructura Aeronautica Oficina de Investigacion y Prevencion de Accidentes de Aviacion Comision Investigadora de Accidentes de Aviacion email: ciada@adinet.com.uy
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2012 Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crash
- Revision
- 1358593848 · 2026-06-09 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q5396964
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA12WA119
- Event ID
- 20120731X54608
- Case number
- DCA12WA119
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2012 Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crash" (page 81978551, revision 1358593848); merged with NTSB case DCA12WA119 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA12WA119
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2012 Air Class Líneas Aéreas Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crash" and NTSB case DCA12WA119, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.