On 24 November 2001, the Crossair Avro RJ100 operating the route, registered as HB-IXM,[1] crashed into a wooded range of hills near Bassersdorf and caught fire.

[2]: 12 The accident aircraft, an Avro 146-RJ100, with registration HB-IXM, manufactured in 1996, had its Maiden flight on 16 August, and logged more than 13,000 hours and 11,500 cycles in total before the crash.

There were poor visibility conditions due to low clouds, and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured the transmission of a previously landing Crossair flight informing air traffic control (ATC) that they could not see the runway until 2.2 nautical miles (4.1 km; 2.5 mi) away.

[2] At 22:07 CET, Flight 3597 crashed into a wooded range of hills near the small town of Bassersdorf, around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) short of the runway, where it broke apart and burst into flames.

The AAIB would conclude that the accident was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) caused by a series of pilot errors and navigation mistakes that led the plane off-course.

[failed verification] This course deviation caused the plane to crash into a hilltop, 4.05 kilometres (2.52 mi; 2.19 nmi) short of and 150 metres (490 ft) north of its assigned landing strip, runway 28.

The MDA states the minimum altitude in MSL to safely fly above any obstructions or terrain in the final approach flight-path before visual contact with the runway is made.

Due to increased azimuth error associated with the use of VORs and lack of vertical guidance (glide slope), the MDA is therefore often higher than a DA (Decision Altitude) for an ILS.

[2] Even though Lutz finally realized that his inability to see the runway meant he needed to initiate a missed approach maneuver (called a "go-around"), his call for the go-around came too late; the plane's engines were not able to spool up fast enough to generate sufficient thrust to climb above the hill that had been obstructing his view, and the plane crashed into the hilltop at 22:06 CET.

[2] The AAIB report determined that Lutz had failed to perform correct navigation and landing procedures on previous occasions, but no action had been taken by Crossair to remove him from transporting passengers.