Montevideo - Buenos Aires

On June 6, 2012 at 07:55 PM, Montevideo - Buenos Aires experienced a crash involving Swearingen SA227 Metro III, operated by Air Class Lineas Aéreas, with the event recorded near Montevideo Montevideo City District.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The crew was performing a cargo flight from Montevideo to Buenos Aires on behalf of DHL. The aircraft departed runway 24 at Montevideo-Carrasco Airport at 1945LT and the crew was cleared to climb to FL080. While reaching a height of 4,500 feet, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in the sea at a speed of 570 knots which caused its disintegration off Flores Island. Few debris were found the following day floating on water but the main wreckage was localized two weeks later about one NM south of Flores Island. The CVR was found on 02AUG2012 but was unreadable as the content was concerning the last 30 minutes of the precedent flight. On 11FEB2013, fishermen found the cargo door in their fishnet. No trace of the cargo nor the crew was ever found.

Aircraft reference details include registration CX-LAS, MSN AC-482, year of manufacture 1982.