Avianca Flight 410
| Avianca Flight 410 | |
|---|---|
 An identical Boeing 727-100 from Avianca |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Controlled flight into terrain after deliberate deviation from the flight route |
| place | Mountain Espartillo, near Cúcuta , Colombia
|
| date | March 17, 1988 |
| Fatalities | 143 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Boeing 727-100
|
| operator |
Avianca
|
| Mark |
HK-1716
|
| Departure airport |
Cúcuta Airport , Colombia
|
| Destination airport |
Cartagena airport , Colombia
|
| Passengers | 136 |
| crew | 7th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On March 17, 1988, a Boeing 727-100 was flown on Avianca flight 410 ( flight number : AV410 ) against Mount El Espartillo 40 kilometers northwest of Cúcuta . With the machine of the airline Avianca a domestic should scheduled flight from the airport Cucuta to Cartagena Airport are performed. All 143 inmates were killed.
Until the accident on American Airlines Flight 965, it was the most serious aircraft accident in Colombia. After the accident on flight 011 , it is the Avianca’s most casualty incident.
Airplane and occupants
The Boeing 727-21 ( registration number : HK-1716, c / n : 18999, s / n : 240) made its maiden flight on March 8, 1966 and was delivered to Pan American World Airways eight days later . Avianca took over the aircraft on September 20, 1974 and kept it until the accident. The machine was 22 years old at the time of the accident.
On the domestic flight on March 17, 1988 there were 136 passengers on board the machine. The crew consisted of the two pilots, a flight engineer and four flight attendants . One of the passengers was another Avianca pilot, he flew in the cockpit.
Flight history
Another aircraft was originally intended for the flight, but it was not available. For this reason, HK-1716 was assigned to the flight, but the machine first had to be flown in. The plane landed in Cúcuta at 12:28 pm. At 13:06 the master asked for take-off clearance, but was instructed by air traffic control to wait ten minutes due to aircraft landing. The pilots then talked about the fact that they were already very late and that they wanted to avoid the flight being delayed any further. They applied to air traffic control for an immediate climb to cruising altitude under visual flight conditions , which was approved at 13:08. At 1:13 p.m. local time, the Boeing 727 was given take-off clearance . At this point the flight was delayed by two hours and 30 minutes. After take-off, there was no longer any communication with the air traffic controller. The first officer steered the machine while the captain instructed him.
At 1:18 p.m. the machine brushed against several trees and flew head-on against El Espartillo mountain at an altitude of 1993 meters. The 136 passengers and seven crew members were killed instantly.
Salvage
A rescue operation was started immediately after the crash, but the rescue team was initially unable to reach the site of the accident at high altitude because of the nightfall and poor visibility. Local residents provided the helpers with flashlights and led them near the mountain top where the wreck was located. The next day, the inmates' bodies were brought to Cúcuta, where they were identified by their relatives.
Cause of accident
Eyewitnesses said they saw the machine fly unusually low before the crash. The evaluation of the voice recorder provided information about the cause of the accident . It was found that the crew had been excited about the delay and hurried to reduce the delay.
Since a right turn was planned in the first phase of the flight to avoid the nearby mountains, but the machine flew a strong left turn, the investigators concluded that the crew had deliberately flown an unapproved route in order to save time. In particular, the last statement made by the captain on the recording - "In any case turn to the right" - was taken as an indication of this. Furthermore, there was poor crew resource management in the cockpit. While the master was giving instructions to the crew, he and the first officer were repeatedly distracted by the extremely talkative additional pilot who was a passenger on the plane.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Accident Report B-727-100 HK-1716 Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 28, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Boeing 727-21 operational history, HK-1716 jetphotos.com, accessed February 28, 2019.
- ↑ David Gero: Aviation disasters - accidents with passenger aircraft since 1950 , Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 978-3-613-01580-7
- ^ David Gero: Flights of Terror , Patrick Stephens Ltd., Sparkford 1997, ISBN 1-85260-512-X .
Coordinates: 8 ° 5 ′ 1.3 " N , 72 ° 41 ′ 33" W.