How Breaking The Rules Killed 19 People | Precision Air 494

Join My Discord: https://discord.gg/kQggurk This is the story of precision air 494, Early in the morning of the 6th of november 2022 an ATR 42 belonging to precision air took off from the Julis nyerere airport in dar es salam for a flight to bukoba. The plane had 4 crew members and 39 passengers. The flight was supposed to get into bukoba at 8:25 am local time and it looked like it would be a quick and short flight. The plane cruised at 20,000 feet and then it was time to get down to 16000 feet. As the plane descended they got some weather information about their destination, calm winds more than 10 kilomteres of visibility with some broken clouds on the way down. This should be a slam dunk approach but as the plane started to descend the weather started to turn the plane flew though cloud after cloud.The pilots discussed that they would have to approach the airport from the side of the mountains if the airport was under the clouds. Then the airport came into view of the pilots and they were cleared for a visual approach to runway 31. The pilots took the plane down and as they were flying over kemondo bay the tiny ATR 42 was rocked by some pretty intense turbulence, the pilots now decided to shoot the aproach from the other side that is to from the side of the mountains. This would mean that they would be landing on runway 13. They now needed to get the plane set up for an approach on the other side of the but it wasnt easy they had lost sight of the airport. The captain told the first officer Look for the runway, the captain kept asking the first officer to look for the runway and each time he responded with I am looking I am looking, they still could not find the runway through the clouds. The pilots then slowed the plane down, extended the flaps and dropped the gear. The captain now wanted to take the planw down to an altitude of 5000 feet, this would surely make it easier to spot the runway. But the runway never came into view, they had completed the landing checklist but since the airport was no where to be found they decided to climb out and stabilized at 5500feet. The flaps were retracted and the auto pilot was engaged so that the pilots could strategize about what they needed to do next. They circled the airport and talked about a diversion to Mwanza, they could make mwanza with the fuel that they had and the first officer said that it was a good idea. At this point the first officer was handed control of the plane and the pilots thought that they would give bukobaone more try. They headed out over the water to get onto the approach path for runway 31. The captain got on the PA system and told the passengers that they could not land at bukoba and that if they could not land they would be heading to mwanza, the plane descended back into the clouds. Then a warning filled the cockpit, terrain pull up pull up. But nothing was done the plane kept descending into the clouds, At this point they called someone from the airport up on a cell phone and the person on the ground told them that they should wait for 20 mins for the weather to get better. The plane then leveled out and continued to head out into the bay, there was an island in the bay called musila island and this was a land mark that would help them figure out exactly where they were. They had seen it for a second but they both lost it in the clouds. The pilots prepped the plane for landing again, flaps were set to 35 degrees and the plane slowed to 102 knots. The captain then warned the first officer “watch your speed, speed, speed, need power, a lot of power” the first officer added more power, then the first officer said that he had sight of the runway and the captain just asked where is the runway? : “ Look below at mine 12 o’clock but the rain is obstructing”. Came the reply. The captain wanted to take the plane lower to get a better view. The autopilot was disengaged and the plane cut into the thick clouds, the captain cautioned the first officer watch your height, and the first officer said okay. In the cockpit a 500 warning was produced they were now only 500 feet off of the water and then another more serious warning filled the cockpit, sink rate sink rate But the