Narrative:Flight 5452 departed San Juan at 06:20 for a VFR flight to Mayaguez. The flight to Mayaguez was uneventful until the base leg turn to finals for runway 09. Witnesses saw the aircraft making a tight turn (without extending the downwind leg as usual) and overshooting the extended centreline. The aircraft then made a violent turn and entered a high sink rate. The right wingtip struck the ground 643 feet short of the runway threshold and 67 feet right of the extended centreline. The plane continued 100 feet through a chain-link fence and a ditch before pivoting about 180deg coming to rest upright.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "Improper maintenance in setting propeller flight idle blade angle and engine fuel flow resulting in a loss of control from an asymmetric power condition. A factor contributing to the accident was the pilot's unstabilized visual approach."
» Aviation Letter 247
Official accident investigation report
N432CA flew for Prinair until February 1986 when it was bought by American Eagle.
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not
display the exact flight path.
Distance from San Juan-Isla Grande Airport to Mayaguez-Eugenio M. de Hostos Airport as the crow flies is 112 km (70 miles).