Accident ATR 42-312 F-OHFV,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 323630

Date:	Friday 12 November 1999
Time:	11:14
Type:	ATR 42-312
Owner/operator:	United Nations - UN
Registration:	F-OHFV
MSN:	012
Year of manufacture:	1986
Total airframe hrs:	24930 hours
Cycles:	32810 flights
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PW121
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 24 / Occupants: 24
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	18 km NE of Mitrovica - Kosovo
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Roma-Ciampino Airport (CIA/LIRA)
Destination airport:	Pristina Airport (PRN/LYPR)
Investigating agency:	BEA
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The aircraft, owned by Si Fly but operating on behalf of the UN, World Food Program, departed Rome at 09:11 for Pristina, Kosovo.
The plane was at an altitude of 1400 meters and turning left with a 30deg bank when it was crashed into a hill (30% slope), 15 meters below the summit.
The weather conditions with Pristina were 5 000 meters horizontal visibility, a sky covered with 700 meters and a compact layer of clouds to 920 meters.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The collision of Flight KSV 3275 with high ground was due :
- to teamwork which lacked procedural discipline and vigilance during maneuvers in a mountainous region with poor visibility.
- to the aircraft being kept on its track and then forgotten by a military controller unused to the mountainous environment of the aerodrome and to preventing the risk of collisions with high ground, within the framework of the radar service he was providing.
- to the operator's critical situation as a new company highly dependant on the lease contract, favoring a failure to respect procedures.
- to the opening of the aerodrome to civil traffic without an advance evaluation of the operating conditions or of the conditions for distribution of aeronautical information.

The following factors contributed to the accident :
- crew fatigue, favoring a lowering of vigilance.
- undertaking the flight with an unserviceable or disconnected GPWS.

Accident investigation: