Western Airlines Flight 2605
| Western Airlines Flight 2605 | |
|---|---|
 A Western Airlines DC-10 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Landing accident |
| place | Mexico City Airport |
| date | October 31, 1979 |
| Fatalities | 72 + 1 on the ground |
| Survivors | 16 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 |
| operator | Western Airlines |
| Mark | N903WA |
| Departure airport | Los Angeles International Airport |
| Destination airport | Mexico City Airport |
| Passengers | 77 |
| crew | 11 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On October 31, 1979, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 on Western Airlines Flight 2605 crashed while landing at Mexico City Airport .
course
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 of the US American Western Airlines was supposed to land on runway 23R (right), but flew in thick fog to parallel runway 23L (left), which was closed at this time due to construction work. Although the pilots were unable to establish visual contact with the runway when they reached the decision height, they did not abort the approach.
The aircraft touched down with the left main landing gear outside the runway, whereupon the pilots tried to take off . While the crew increased the engine power and pulled the nose of the machine upwards, the right main landing gear collided with a construction vehicle that was standing on the runway. The right main landing gear was torn off on impact, thrown backwards and hit the right horizontal stabilizer . The damage caused the machine to swerve uncontrollably to the right at a low altitude. The machine then collided with an excavator and crashed into an airport building. Of the 88 inmates, 72 were killed. In addition, another person was killed on the ground.
root cause
The investigators blamed the pilots as the main culprit, as they fell short of the prescribed decision height on approach with poor visibility.
Trivia
This accident was one of three serious DC-10 accidents in 1979. The other accidents were American Airlines Flight 191 with 273 deaths and Air New Zealand Flight 901 with 257 deaths.