Aviation officials in Honduras say CENTRAL AMERICAN AIRWAYS Flight 731 likely encountered severe turbulence as it was trying to land in poor weather in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Monday morning. Flight 731 never made it and crashed at 8:02am, killing all 14 passengers and crew onboard. Officials said they are looking at 3 possible causes for the crash: Pilot Error, mechanical and the weather. At the time the Let 410 went down, there was dense fog, light rain and strong winds. A Honduran National Weather Service aviation expert, arrived on site to measure the wind speed and data from the day of the accident and said it was likely the aircraft encountered "severe turbulence". Another aviation expert said that the area where the plane went down produces some of the strongest winds in the region, with winds that may be parallel or horizontal, or, a mix of the two. Officials also said that the last communication with the flight crew was when they were about 7 miles out and contact was lost shortly thereafter. The flight crew did not declare an emergency. Officials did say that the black boxes, which have been recovered, would aid in telling them what actions the flight crew took as they approached Toncontin's runway 02 from the south, which is seen above on a clear day. They pointed out that there are 2 approaches into Toncontin, one from the north, and one from the south. The approach is determined by the control tower with the input of the flight crew. Flight 731 was approaching from the south, which is usually not used when the weather is poor. Officials said that it would be important to determine who approved the approach and then how the approach was conducted.
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