[a] The flight was operated by Air Caraïbes, a Caribbean regional airline, using a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter.

On 24 March 2001, during an approach to Saint Barthélemy Airport, the DHC-6 Twin Otter banked steeply to the left and crashed into a house, killing all 19 passengers and crew on board.

Investigation by the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (or BEA) concluded that the cause of the crash was due to an error by the flight crew in managing the plane's thrust lever.

According to the BEA, this was the first fatal accident in the Twin Otter whereby an accidental thrust selection caused a propeller to enter the Beta range.

All 19 people on board were killed instantly in the crash and an elderly man, identified as Augustin Questel,[4] who lived in the house with his wife, died from the subsequent fire and explosion.

The co-pilot, 38-year-old First Officer Nicolas Manen, obtained his Twin Otter type rating on 21 December 2000, having had previous professional experience as a flight engineer in the French Air Force.

[2][3] The western approach to Saint Barthélemy Airport crosses the Col de la Tourmente just before the runway, requiring pilots to have special certification to land there.

The thrust lever of the DHC-6 was located on the cockpit ceiling and investigators wanted to determine if the pilot's hand position may have contributed to the crash.

It was revealed that, when the pilot flying was seated on the left, his right forearm is located in the extended vertical axis of the levers, a position which is favorable to symmetric handling.

In addition, if the pilot flying was seated on the right, he would move the thrust lever with a different timing, used short successive and separate movements on the engine No.

This variation seems to correspond to the beginning of the descent towards the airport, at the moment when the crew selected the propellers' full low pitch position.

If the reverse beta is engaged in mid-air, according to the manufacturer, this would greatly increase aerodynamic drag and cause rapid deceleration.

The first hypothesis was that the pilot flying was the captain and that he had accidentally selected the reverse beta range for the propellers with the intention of losing energy to correct the airspeed, regain the descent path or shorten the landing as much as possible, as the reverse beta mode acted as a powerful brake.

Then the pilot would have pushed the levers energetically back to their normal use range by increasing thrust, which would explain the change in engine noise.

Asymmetry in the power levers' movement, or in the operation of the propeller mechanism, or even in the position of the propeller levers, would then have led to asymmetry between the engines to an extent that would have caused a violent yaw movement, inducing a sharp roll to the left, possibly associated with a stall of the left wing and then a dive.

[2] Investigators then made the conclusion of the cause of the crash: The accident appears to result from the captain's use of the propellers in the reverse beta range to improve control of his track on short final.

The investigation could not exclude three other hypotheses were nevertheless classified as quite unlikely: The captain's lack of recent experience on this airplane type, the undeniable difficulty of conducting an approach to runway 10 at Saint-Barthélemy and the pressure of time during this flight were contributory factors.

More than ten years after the publication of the regulation of 5 November 1987, the waivers granted for older aircraft no longer appear to be justified.After the crash, the BEA made mandatory recommendations to the Directorate General for Civil Aviation and the Joint Aviation Authorities to equip every public transport plane authorized to carry more than nine passengers and whose maximum certified take-off weight is less than or equal to 5,700 kg, with at least one flight recorder.

[2] The prefect of Guadeloupe immediately went to the scene to organize relief, including gendarmerie reinforcements, firemen and teams of psychologists.

On 25 March, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Foreign Secretary Christian Paul also expressed their "emotion" and "deep sadness" to the families of the victims.

Public opinion in Saint Barthélemy supported Mayor Bruno Magras's declaration of Monday 26 March as a day of official mourning for the crash victims.

Air Caraïbes General Manager Philippe Chevallier announced that the airline would fly relatives of the victims to the crash site.

[12] On 15 September 2006, Richard Degryse was convicted of involuntary homicide and sentenced to a two-year prohibition from any work involving directing flight operations.

[13] The court determined that the operations manager and the company knew of the risks they had created by failing to comply with the training flight requirement for a pilot taking control of an aircraft after a break of more than 90 days.

The court also received representations from more than 70 parties whose interests were examined during a civil lawsuit, held on 22 December at the tribunal of Basse-Terre.