Embraer EMB-820 Navajo/Carajá

It was determined that the pilot was not qualified to pilot such type of aircraft. Investigations revealed he did not have any licence nor medical documents to prove he was able to conduct such flight with such aircraft. A poor flight planning and a poor evaluation of the weather conditions were considered as contributing factors.

No technical anomalies were found on both engines. The fuel selector was positioned on the auxiliary tanks who had sufficient fuel at the time of the accident. It was reported that the pilot elected to continue the approach on one engine, letting himself be carried away by the luck factor that he benefited in the past in other similar situations.

The decision of the crew to land at Curitiba-Bacacheri Airport was not appropriate due to poor weather conditions. The crew underestimated the weather conditions at destination and should take the decision to divert to a more suitable terrain.

It was determined that the hydraulic pump on the right engine failed in flight, forcing the pilot to shut the engine down. It was reported that the pilot continued the approach in a single-engine configuration without informing ATC and that the aircraft was too high on the glide and approaching with an excessive speed. The pilot improperly analyzed the aircraft's flight conditions after shutting down the right engine, causing the aircraft to enter an approach configuration that was not compliant with the published procedures.

Loss of power on the right engine for undetermined reasons. The following findings were identified:
- Poor flight preparation on part of the crew,
- The crew did not know the exact weight of the mail/cargo,
- The crew did not have sufficient training/instruction regarding a possible loss of engine power at takeoff,
- Poor engine maintenance as the right engine had experienced power issues in the past that had not been resolved,
- Poor crew coordination,
- When the loss of power occurred on the right engine, the captain asked the copilot to raise the landing gear and preferred to resolve the emergency situation alone,
- Poor evaluation of the aircraft performances on part of the crew in regard of the weight and balance values and CofG.

The crew continued the descent under VFR mode in IMC conditions and descended too low to maintain a visual contact with the ground until the aircraft impacted terrain. The following contributing factors were identified:
- Poor crew coordination,
- Lack of visibility,
- The crew failed to follow the published procedures.

The following findings were identified:
- Failure of the left engine on final approach,
- Possible over-correction on part of the pilot-in-command, causing a loss of control after a full rudder compensation,
- The aircraft was in a flaps and landing gear down configuration and it is believed that the copilot failed to assist the pilot during an emergency situation,
- The distance between the aircraft and the ground was insufficient to expect recovery,
- The crew used the auxiliary fuel tanks during all flight without paying attention to the potential danger of such procedure,
- Lack of crew support and crew training on part of the operator,
- Lack of crew resources management.

The following findings were identified:
- Poor crew training,
- Pool fuel consumption calculation on part of the crew,
- Wrong crew's decision to fly on one engine,
- Inappropriate of aircraft controls,
- Poor crew coordination,
- Poor flight planning.

At the time of impact, both engines were running at cruise power. On takeoff from Brasília Airport, the total weight ot the aircraft was 436 kilos above MTOW, which may contribute to the accident. Nevertheless, investigations were unable to determine the exact cause of the accident. Maybe the pilot-in-command made a brutal movement on the control column, causing the aircraft to become uncontrollable following a structural failure of both winglets that were recently installed.

Pilot error.