Intercontinental de Aviación flight 256
| Intercontinental de Aviación flight 256 | |
|---|---|
 The HK-3839X machine that crashed |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Controlled flight into terrain |
| place | near María la Baja , Colombia
|
| date | January 11, 1995 |
| Fatalities | 51 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Injured | 1 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Douglas DC-9-14
|
| operator |
Intercontinental de Aviación
|
| Mark |
HK-3839X
|
| Departure airport |
Bogotá Eldorado Airport , Colombia
|
| Destination airport |
Rafael Nuñez Airport , Cartagena , Colombia
|
| Passengers | 47 |
| crew | 5 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On the Intercontinental de Aviación flight 256 (flight number IATA : RS256 , ICAO : ICT256 , radio call sign: CONTAVIA 256 ) a Douglas DC-9-14 with the aircraft registration HK-3839X of the Intercontinental de Aviación , with who operated a domestic scheduled flight from Bogotá to Cartagena , flown off-road . In the accident, 51 died on board the machine, only the nine-year-old girl Erika Delgado Gomez survived.
plane
The affected machine was a Douglas DC-9-14, which was finally assembled at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Long Beach , California . The aircraft had the factory number 45742, it was the 26th Douglas DC-9 from ongoing production. The machine was rolled out on February 15, 1966. The machine was registered with the aircraft registration number N8901E and delivered to Eastern Air Lines on April 26, 1966 . The machine was given the fleet number 901 there . From April 27, 1970, the machine was leased by the manufacturer to Delta Air Lines , where it was given the fleet number 216 . From April 23, 1971, the manufacturer leased the machine again to Eastern Air Lines, where it was given its old fleet number. From May 31, 1979 the machine flew for Texas International Airlines . With its takeover by Continental Airlines on October 31, 1982, the machine was transferred to the fleet of this airline, where it was given the fleet number 901 and the name City of Mexico City . In September 1987, Polaris Aircraft Leasing bought the machine and immediately leased it back to Continental Airlines. In January 1991 the machine was phased out and stored at the Waco Regional Airport in Texas . In 1993 the Intercontinental de Aviación acquired the machine and re-registered it on April 29, 1993 with the new aircraft registration HK-3839X . The twin- engined narrow -body aircraft was equipped with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B engines. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed a total of 65,084 operating hours, which accounted for 69,716 take-offs and landings.
Passengers and crew
There was a five-person crew on board, consisting of a flight captain, a first officer and three flight attendants. The 39-year-old captain Andrés Patacón had 10,924 hours of flight experience, of which he had completed 4,605 hours in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-9. 36-year-old first officer Luis Ríos had 4,229 hours of flight experience, 3,952 hours of which with the DC-9. Claudia Duarte, Dalia Mora and Zaida Tarazona were on board as flight attendants. The flight from Bogotá to Cartagena had taken 47 passengers, all of whom were Colombian citizens.
the accident
The machine was significantly delayed that day. The flight was scheduled to take off at 12:10 p.m., but the machine was delayed at the departure airport due to complications on the previous flight. The machine finally took off at 6:45 p.m., and at 7:09 p.m. the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 9,400 meters.
On the approach to Cartagena, air traffic control in Barranquilla gave the crew the clearance to descend to 14,000 feet (approx. 4,300 meters) and to report again at 19:26 when passing an altitude of 20,000 feet (approx. 6100 meters). The pilots did this at 19:33. The last radio contact took place when air traffic control gave the machine clearance for a further descent to 8,000 feet (approx. 2,400 meters).
At 19:38, the crew of a Cessna 208 Caravan , which was carrying out Aerocorales flight 209 and was just nearby, contacted air traffic control. The pilots of the Cessna reported that they saw the lights of a rapidly sinking machine and a subsequent explosion on the ground.
The DC-9 was flown 35 miles from Cartagena Airport into a swampy lagoon near María La Baja . The machine exploded on impact and broke into three parts. 46 of 47 passengers and all 5 crew members were killed.
Survivors
The only survivor was the 9-year-old girl Erika Delgado Gomez. She had taken the flight with her parents and brother, who were all killed in the accident. She broke an arm in the accident. She said that after the crash, her mother pushed her aside to protect her from the fire. The grass cushioned the impact and alleviated their injuries.
root cause
Since the crew of the Cessna had reported an explosion, a bomb attack like the one on Avianca Flight 203 in 1989 was initially feared. However, the investigators found that the machine only exploded after the collision with the site, no traces of explosives were found. An incorrect setting of the altimeter was considered to be the likely cause of the accident. The captain's altimeter indicated an altitude of 16,200 feet (approximately 4,940 meters). The first officer's altimeter was working normally, but its lights were not working, so the pilots did not compare their readings. Other factors that contributed to the accident were the lack of radar monitoring in the area and the flight crew's loss of situational awareness on the flight in clear weather. The airline's inadequate crew training for such situations was also criticized. It was not possible to determine whether the Ground Proximity Warning System was not functioning properly or whether the crew could no longer react to it in time.
swell
- Final report of the Republica de Colombia Aeronautica Civil
- Accident report DC-9-14, HK-3839X in the Aviation Safety Network
- Operating history DC-9-14, HK-3839X on planespotters.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Colombia Jet Explodes in Air; 51 Feared Dead , New York Times, Jan. 12, 1995.
- ↑ Авиакатастрофа в Колумбии. После взрыва самолета в живых остался один человек , Kommersant from January 13, 1995.
Coordinates: 9 ° 58 ′ 59.9 ″ N , 75 ° 21 ′ 0 ″ W.