Castelo Branco - Castelo Branco

On August 8, 2020 at 12:20 PM, Castelo Branco - Castelo Branco experienced a crash involving Canadair CL-215, operated by Babcock, with the event recorded near Lobios Galicia.

The flight was categorized as fire fighting and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 50.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Operated by Babcock Spain, the aircraft was stationed at Castelo Branco Airport in Portugal on behalf of the Civil Security of Portugal (Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil).. The airplane departed Castelo Branco Airfield at 0815LT with a second CL-215 and was dispatched over the region of Lindoso, at the border with Spain, to fight a fire. While approaching the area to treat, the airplane was too low and impacted ground, causing the tail to detach. The aircraft crashed on a rocky area located near Lobios, on Spanish territory. The cockpit was destroyed upon impact and the Portuguese copilot aged 66 was killed while the Spanish captain aged 39 was seriously injured and transferred to an hospital in Alto Minho.

Aircraft reference details include registration EC-HET, MSN 1034, year of manufacture 1974.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.9039°, -8.0600°.