Humanitarian

Weather in Kinshasa was bad at the time of the accident, ATC failed to inform the crew about the degradation of the weather conditions and the runway in use was not closed to traffic while the visibility was below the minima. Despite this situation, the crew took the decision to continue the approach procedure while the aircraft was unstable and the approach speed was too high (180 knots). It is reported that the following factors contributed to the accident:
- the crew ignored the published approach procedures,
- improper crew resources management during the execution of the flight,
- during the go around process, the crew encountered adverse weather conditions with vertical wind gusts, downdrafts and a 'magenta' effect. This caused the aircraft to adopt nose down attitude while it was in the final stage of the flight, preventing the pilot to take over the control,
- the pilot training program was inadequate and did not include a proportionate number of flight in the simulator,
- the authority for civil aviation of Georgia has probably approved a small training program for upgrading the captain to his position,
- lack of oversight of the operator by the Georgian Civil Aviation Authority.
In conclusion, investigators believe that the most probable cause of the accident is the fact that the plane encountered a very dangerous meteorological phenomena similar to a microburst, to a very low level during the overshoot process. The dangerous vertical downdraft and gust caused a sudden and remarkable change in the attitude of the aircraft and a substantial loss of altitude. Flying at very low altitude, recovery of such disturbance was not possible.

The pilot continued the approach in low visibility and let the aircraft descending below the minimum safe altitude. At the time of impact, the aircraft was 10° off track (017° radial) for a runway 20 approach in IMC. Consequently, investigators feel that the accident was caused by a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Poor efficiency in procedures execution on part of the pilot by executing an approach in IMC with a twin engine aircraft was considered as a contributory factor, and his relative low experience on type.

Controlled flight into terrain after the crew initiated the descent prematurely. The lack of visibility was a contributing factor.

Wrong approach configuration after the crew adopted an excessive rate of descent, causing the aircraft to pass below the glide until it impacted ground. The crew failed to initiate a second go-around for unknown reasons.

Controlled flight into terrain after the crew failed to follow the prescribed route and executed a direct route over the mountains at an unsafe altitude in poor visibility due to weather.