AECA flight 767-103

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AECA flight 767-103
Douglas DC-8-55 (F), UTA - Union de Transports Aeriens AN0926330.jpg

The affected machine during its operating time at the UTA
Accident summary
Accident type Collision with objects after starting
place Quito , EcuadorEcuadorEcuador 
date September 18, 1984
Fatalities 4th
Survivors 0
Fatalities on the ground 49
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Douglas DC-8-55CF Jet Trader
operator EcuadorEcuador Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos (AECA)
Mark EcuadorEcuador HC-BKN
Departure airport Miami Airport , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Stopover Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre (1960) , Quito , EcuadorEcuadorEcuador 
Destination airport Guayaquil Airport , EcuadorEcuadorEcuador 
Passengers 0
crew 4th
Lists of aviation accidents

On April 28, 1995, a Douglas DC-8-55CF Jet Trader of the Ecuadorian airline AECA had an accident on AECA flight 767-103 while taking off from Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre (1960) in Ecuador . After takeoff, the machine rose at a very shallow angle, collided with an ILS antenna and then fell into a residential area, killing the four occupants of the machine and 49 people on the ground.

plane

The aircraft that crashed was a Douglas DC-8-55F Jet Trader, which was finally assembled at the Douglas plant in Long Beach , California . The machine was rolled out on May 3, 1965. The aircraft had the factory number 45754, it was the 225th Douglas DC-8 from ongoing production. The DC-8 was delivered new to Trans International Airlines on May 18, 1965 with the aircraft registration number N3225T , where it received the fleet number T152 . From April 1, 1969, Trans International Airlines leased the aircraft to Saturn Airways before the leasing return returned to its fleet on April 28, 1970. On August 25, 1970, the machine was sold to the Union de Transports Aériens , which operated it with the new registration number F-BOLI . Between September 12 and 25, 1979, the machine was operated by UTA for the government of the Republic of Gabon , and from June to August 1980 for Cargo Jet International . From February 1982 the machine was sold to the Charlotte Aerospace Company Inc. , which converted the machine into a cargo plane and leased it with the new registration number N29922 to LACSA . From August 7, 1983, the machine was in operation at AECA - Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos. The four-engine long-range - narrow-body aircraft was equipped with four engines of the type Pratt & Whitney Jt3d-3B equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed 60,070 operating hours, which accounted for 17,003 take-offs and landings.

Crew and flight plan

An international cargo flight from Miami to Guayaquil was carried out with the machine , with a stopover in Quito . There was a four-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain, a first officer, a flight engineer and a loadmaster.

the accident

The plane landed in Quito at 6:52 a.m. local time. Shortly after the scheduled departure time of 9 a.m., representatives of the Ecuadorian pilots 'union FEDTA asked for permission to board the aircraft to discuss the ongoing pilots' strike with the crew. The four crew members of Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos did not take part in the strike, in agreement with the management of the AECA. After a delay of about two hours, engine no. 4 was started. The crew requested that the machine be towed to the runway, possibly to speed up take-off. The other engines were started during the towing process.

The take-off run of the machine from runway 35 was exceptionally long. The DC-8 rolled over the end of the runway and only took off 48 meters behind it. After take off, it rose at a very shallow angle and touched the wooden structure of the ILS antenna 83 meters behind the end of the runway. The machine flew 460 meters past the end of the runway and 35 meters to the right of the runway center line into a row of houses. They tore down 25 houses. In the accident, the four crew members of the machine and 49 people died in the housing estate.

root cause

It was found that the machine was not configured correctly to start. The horizontal stabilizer was set to 0.05 degrees instead of 8 degrees as required for takeoff. The nose of the aircraft was hardly pointing upwards and the aircraft hardly rose after the take-off run. The incorrect configuration was due to the fact that the pilots had not processed the checklists or had not processed them properly before departure. Apparently they had been in a great hurry because of the time lost in talking to the union representatives. Because of this rush, they were not focused on all aspects of the operation of the machine. The take-off clearance for the machine was also given under incorrect conditions, as the existing runway, wind and temperature conditions, the maximum permissible take-off weight, the actual take-off weight, the load distribution and the center of gravity of the machine were not determined.

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