Pico da Esperança, São Jorge

We went for a 7-mile hike on top of the island (Sao Jorge).  The weather was brisk and foggy at times.  The turn around point was Pico da Esperança.  Larry ‘found’ a shorter path to exit the mountain top, that turned into a harrowing crawl partially down a steep side.  At about fourteen feet we crawled back up grabbing clumps of grass as hand holds.  It was either that or jump.  (I’m still restricted by my PT not to jump or run)  The path had washed out, but this wasn’t visible initially.

After our big adventure, I’m smiling because I’m alive.  Larry is smiling too, because I didn’t kill him.

Pico island across the channel.

SATA Air Açores Flight 530M was a Portuguese commuter between Ponta Delgada and Flores with a stop in Faial.  At 10:20 a.m. on December 11, 1999, the aircraft collided with Pico da Esperança, the highest mountain of São Jorge.  All 35 people on board died.

The crew opted for a route that included an approach descent over the channel between the islands of Pico and São Jorge, to intercept the 250 degree VOR/VFL Horta radial.  Horta tower initially cleared the flight to FL100 (10,000 feet (3,000 m)), but the crew requested (and were cleared) to descend to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) with instructions to maintain visual contact with the island of Pico.

At 10:03 a.m., the co-pilot contacted the Santa Maria control tower to communicate that the flight was passing the LIMA-MIKE waypoint.  The flight was planned for a route direct to Horta, but when the crew reported their position as LIMA-MIKE, the aircraft had already drifted 14 nautical miles from its course; the crew did not indicate their awareness of the diversion.  Approximately 43 nautical miles from Horta, the crew was authorized by the Horta tower to descend to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and indicated their visual contact with Pico.  During the descent, heavy rain and turbulence were encountered.  The flight continued on its course as it descended, crossing the north coast of the island of São Jorge.  But the crew had lost situational awareness and could not distinguish their barometric altitudes from the radio altimeter indicators.

The crew only realized that they were overflying the island from the verbal indication by the co-pilot and the final audible sound of the GPWS.  Five seconds after the first alarm by the GPWS, the co-pilot reacted by pulling back on the throttles, and eight seconds following the alarm, the motors reacted.  The plane began to recover its altitude and turned to the left. Seven minutes (10:17 a.m.) after initiating the descent, the left wing of the aircraft impacted the northern hillside and eastern flank of Pico da Esperança and separated from the fuselage, at approximately 1,067 metres (3,501 ft) altitude on the island of São Jorge.  The plane continued its crash trajectory, rolling along a longitudinal path and inverting towards the sea before crashing.  The GPWS alerted the crew 17 seconds before impact.  No emergency call was received from the aircraft before it went down.  There was no fire.

A memorial plaque with the names of the victims of Flight 530M is located on the summit of Pico da Esperança

Rescue teams reached the wreckage more than four hours after the aircraft crashed, where it scattered debris and victims across a dense ravine.  The search was called off after dark, and only resumed on Sunday, when the investigation team was sent to the isolated crash site from the mainland.  Seven bodies were recovered as rescuers using ropes and carrying stretchers, scrambled over the steep mountainside before nightfall. Similarly, a thick mist shrouded the area, which was inaccessible to vehicles, making the search operation difficult.

Although the Portuguese Air Force helicopters were on standby to winch out any survivors, the time spent meant that the searchers were only there to "collect the bodies and examine the causes of the accident," since there was "no hope of finding survivors," from the comments of Internal Affairs Minister Fernando Gomes.

All SATA flights were canceled after the crash.

Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres was in Helsinki, Finland for a European Union summit, cancelled a planned visit to Kosovo (to play golf?) and headed straight for the Azores. 

SATA arranged flights to the islands for international relatives of crash victims.

Aeroporto da llha de São Jorge, tomorrows initial departure point.