Skytaxi Luftfahrt Flight 228B

Skytaxi Luftfahrt Flight 228B (flight number: STC228B) was a business charter flight of the Austrian airline Skytaxi Luftfahrt GmbH on 14 December 2017, on which a Cessna Citation Mustang that had taken off from Egelsbach Airfield crashed near Waldburg-Sieberatsreute after a loss of control on final approach to Friedrichshafen Airport. The accident resulted in the deaths of the two pilots and the passenger, as well as the total loss of the aircraft being used. It was the first accident worldwide of the aircraft type, which has been produced since 2004, that involved a total loss of the aircraft and in which there were fatalities.

Accident sequence

The aircraft lifted off in Egelsbach at 17:43. The flight was conducted under instrument flight rules. The aircraft climbed to flight level 210. At 17:59, when the aircraft was northwest of Stuttgart, the pilots were instructed to descend to flight level 170. At 18:01 a further descent to flight level 150 was instructed. At 18:03 the pilots were instructed to change to Swiss Radar. After this had been done, Swiss Radar instructed the pilots to descend to flight level 110. At 18:05 the pilots made contact with approach control in Zurich, which assigned the pilots the ILS-equipped runway 24 and guided the aircraft to the approach with vectors. At 18:06 a heading of 140 degrees and a further descent to flight level 90 were instructed. At 18:10 a further descent to 6,000 feet was instructed. Subsequently, the aircraft was observed slightly overshooting the extended centreline while turning in for the final approach and then beginning to descend steeply. At approx. 18:14 the aircraft clipped treetops in a wooded area. It continued flying at high speed until it crashed in a wooded area 1,000 metres further away. All three occupants were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.