Tassili Airlines

Beechcraft 1900D

The aircraft departed Hassi R'Mel-Tilrhempt Airport at 2030LT on a 15-minutes charter flight to Ghardaïa, carrying three crew members and two employees of the Sonatrach (Société Nationale pour le Transport et la Commercialisation d’Hydrocarbures). At 2044LT, the crew was cleared for a right hand circuit in preparation for an approach to runway 30. At that moment a Boeing 727 inbound from Djanet was on long finals. The copilot stated that he intended to carry out an NDB/ILS approach to runway 30. The captain however preferred a visual approach. The copilot carried out the captain's course and descent instructions with hesitation. At 2057LT, the EGPWS alarm sounded. Power was added and a climb was initiated from a lowest altitude of 240 feet above ground level. The captain then took over control and assumed the role of Pilot Flying. The airplane manoeuvred south of the airport until 2101LT when the copilot saw the runway. The captain rolled left to -57° and pitched down to -18.9° in order to steer the airplane towards the runway. Again the EGPWS sounded but the descent continued until the airplane impacted the ground and broke up. All five occupants were injured and the aircraft was destroyed. A day later, the copilot died from his injuries.