Madrid - Porto

On May 14, 1997 at 04:28 PM, Madrid - Porto experienced a crash involving Saab 340, operated by Regional Lineas Aéreas, with the event recorded near Porto-Francisco Sá Carneiro Douro Litoral.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

37 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 37 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 34, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Because of construction works on runway 35, the threshold at Porto was displaced by 760 metres. This was published in a Notam but during the flight preparation at Madrid-Barajas Airport, the crew was not informed about this notice. Following an uneventful flight, the crew was cleared to descent and received instructions for a landing on runway 35 but no information about the displaced threshold. On final approach, the controller realized that the aircraft was approaching too low and instructed the crew to 'overshoot please'. The crew did not react to this instruction and continued the approach when the aircraft undershot the displaced threshold and landed in the construction area. It struck several trenches which caused the undercarriage to be torn off and slid for few dozen metres before coming to rest on the runway. All 37 occupants were evacuated safely and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Aircraft reference details include registration EC-GFM, MSN 315, year of manufacture 1992.