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 ATP impacted the northern hillside and eastern flank of Pico da Esperança and separated from the fuselage, at approximately altitude on the island of São Jorge. The plane had 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.