Air accident involving a Sud Aviation Caravelle of TAC Colombia

Air accident involving a Sud Aviation Caravelle of TAC Colombia
	An identical Sud Aviation Caravelle from TAC Colombia
Accident summary
Accident type	Structural failure after explosion of unknown origin
place	near Riohacha , Colombia
date	December 21, 1980
Fatalities	70
Survivors	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R
operator	TAC Colombia
Mark	HK-1810
Departure airport	Bogotá airport , Colombia;
1. Stopover	Barranquilla Airport , Colombia;
2. Stopover	Valledupar Airport , Colombia;
3. Stopover	Riohacha Airport , Colombia;
4. Stopover	Olaya Herrera Airport , Medellin , Colombia;
Destination airport	Bogotá airport , Colombia;
Passengers	63
crew	7th
	Lists of aviation accidents

The accident involving a Sud Aviation Caravelle operated by TAC Colombia occurred on December 21, 1980. A Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R operated by the TAC Colombia airline crashed shortly after taking off from Riohacha airport . All 70 people were killed in the accident. According to all findings, there was an explosion in the air before the accident.

machine

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R with the model serial number 165, which had completed its maiden flight on April 16, 1963 before it was delivered nine days later to the Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España , where it was carried with the Aircraft registration EC-ATX was approved and baptized under the name Turina . In 1973 the aircraft was leased to Aviaco . The machine was then sold to TAC Colombia in February 1976 , where it was given the registration number HK-1810.

The twin - engined narrow -body aircraft was equipped with two Rolls-Royce Avon 533R engines. The flight was the first for the machine in 17 months in which it had been out of service due to extensive maintenance work.

Crew, passengers and cargo

There was a crew of seven on board, consisting of a captain, first officer, flight engineer and four flight attendants. For the flight to Medellín 63 passengers had taken a seat in the plane. The cargo consisted of a large number of fireworks .

Flight history

The scheduled domestic flight should first from Bogota airport to airport Barranquilla and then to the airport Valledupar lead. At the airport Riohacha was a third and on the Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin provided a fourth stop until the machine would eventually fly back to Bogota airport again. The first three flight segments to Riohacha airport were flown without any particular incident.

the accident

The plane took off from Riohacha at 2:18 p.m. to fly the flight segment to Medellín. Five minutes after take-off there was an explosion and the right rear fuselage caught fire. The captain informed air traffic control that he wanted to try to land the machine in a field. Shortly afterwards, the machine broke apart and fell to the ground. The machine eventually spiraled out of control and crashed, killing all 70 people on board.

Cause of accident

It could not be conclusively determined whether the explosion was caused by a bomb or not. According to unconfirmed reports, an anonymous caller had contacted the chairman of the Aerocesar board in Riohacha before take-off and said that it would be a good idea to interrupt the flight of the machine as it would never reach its destination. The possibility that the drug mafia had been involved in the case was considered. At the same time, the machine transported a large amount of fireworks that could have led to the crash.

swell

11.419344 -72.402264Coordinates: 11 ° 25 '9.6 " N , 72 ° 24' 8.2" W.