1983 TAME Boeing 737 crash

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1983 TAME Boeing 737 crash
TAME Boeing 737-200 HC-BIG.png
The aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in May 1981 at Boeing Field, some months before delivery to TAME.
Accident
Date11 July 1983 [1]
Summary Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) due to pilot error
SiteBashún Hill, Ricaurte parish, near Mariscal Lamar International Airport, Cuenca, Ecuador
2°51′55.3″S78°56′59.5″W / 2.865361°S 78.949861°W / -2.865361; -78.949861
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced
Aircraft nameCiudad de Loja
Operator TAME
IATA flight No.EQ173
Registration HC-BIG
Flight origin Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Quito, Ecuador
DestinationMariscal Lamar International Airport, Cuenca, Ecuador
Occupants119
Passengers111
Crew8
Fatalities119
Survivors0

The 1983 TAME Boeing 737 crash occurred when TAME Ecuador Flight 173, [2] a Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced operated by Ecuador's national airline TAME, flying on a domestic route from the now-closed Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito to Mariscal Lamar International Airport in Cuenca, crashed into a hill during final approach just 1 mile (1.6 km; 0.87 nmi) from its final destination, killing all 119 people on board. [1]

Contents

The crash was the first and deadliest crash in the history of TAME, and it remains as the deadliest aircraft accident in the history of Ecuador. An investigation later determined that the flight crashed due to the flight crew's lack of experience on the aircraft type, which caused a controlled flight into terrain. [2] [3]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced, with Pratt & Whitney type JT8D-17 engines. It was manufactured in 1981 and made its first flight on 11 June of that year. It was given the test registration of N8283V, and was re-registered as HC-BIG when it arrived in the TAME fleet in October of the same year. The aircraft was named "Ciudad de Loja" upon its delivery to TAME. [2] [4]

HC-BIG was the only Boeing 737 ever operated by the airline. [5] The plane was piloted by captain Jorge Peña and an unnamed first officer. 103 people (95 passengers and all eight crew) came from Ecuador, 11 came from Colombia, and five from the United States. [6] [7]

Flight history

On the morning of 11 July 1983, the aircraft took off from Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito for a domestic flight to Mariscal Lamar Airport in Cuenca with 111 passengers and eight crew members. The aircraft encountered foggy conditions during the final approach to Mariscal Lamar Airport, but the weather conditions of that day were reported as clear. The crew contacted the Cuenca control tower for permission to land the plane, which was granted. [6]

During the final few minutes of the flight, the pilots were distracted during a conversation (reportedly discussing labor problems in TAME) and didn't know that the plane was flying dangerously low towards a mountain. Also, at the same time, they were experimenting with some of the aircraft's controls and systems.[ citation needed ]

Seconds before the plane hit the mountain and 1 mile (1.6 km; 0.87 nmi) from the airport, the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) activated, announcing an imminent terrain collision and sounding an alarm. The captain and first officer attempted to climb clear of the mountain by applying full power on the engines and making a steep climb, but it was too late. The jetliner scraped the peak of Bashún Hill (which overlooks the runway of Marsical Lamar Airport), exploded, and slid down into a ravine; there were no survivors. [8]

Two minutes after the plane signal was lost from the radar screen, Cuenca air traffic control (ATC) declared an emergency. The following day, search aircraft and rescue teams arrived at the plane's last known position. Because of the remoteness and the difficulty of access to the crash site, it took rescue personnel several hours to reach the site itself.[ citation needed ]

Investigation

Initial fears of a possible sabotage were advanced by the civil aviation authorities [9] [10] after a radio station reported witnesses to a mid-air explosion. [11] [7] During the investigation, this was discarded due to lack of evidence. The civil authorities of aviation initiated an investigation, with cooperation of Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The investigation results were presented several months later and concluded that pilot error was a direct cause in the crash. Several factors were identified: training of the pilots was not properly delivered by TAME for the Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced, the crew was not fully familiar with the controls of the aircraft, and the crew was distracted while trying to locate the runway in heavy fog, as a consequence, the plane went below the minimum safe altitude in a mountainous region with the flight crew ignoring the voice commands of the proximity radar until seconds before impact.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAME</span> Flag-carrier airline of Ecuador

TAME or TAME EP Linea Aerea del Ecuador was an airline founded in Ecuador in 1962. TAME was the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ecuador. TAME headquarters were in Quito, Pichincha Province and the main hub was Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito. The airline was formed by the Air Force of Ecuador. In 2011, it became a commercial entity and provided domestic, international and charter flights. On May 20, 2020, the Ecuador government decided to cease all the operations and liquidate the airline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faucett Perú Flight 251</span> 1996 aviation accident

Faucett Perú Flight 251 refers to a Boeing 737-200 that was operating a domestic scheduled Lima–Arequipa–Tacna passenger service and crashed on 29 February 1996, while completing the first leg, on approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport. All 123 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft lost their lives in the accident. It is the deadliest aviation accident that occurred on Peruvian soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiftair</span> Spanish airline

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icaro Air</span>

Icaro Air was an airline based in Quito, Ecuador. Its main base was Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Quito.

Aerosucre S.A. is a cargo airline based in Bogotá, Colombia. It began operation in 1969 and operates scheduled international and domestic cargo services throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Its home base is El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá. Aerosucre has been involved in a number of accidents and incidents during its lifetime, and more recently, internet videos have emerged showcasing reckless behavior by its pilots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport</span> Former airport that served Quito, Ecuador (1960–2013)

Mariscal Sucre International Airport(IATA: UIO, ICAO: SEQU) was the main international airport that served Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador. It was the busiest airport in Ecuador by passenger traffic, by aircraft movement and by cargo movement, and one of the busiest airports in South America. It was named after Venezuelan-born Antonio José de Sucre, a hero of Ecuadorian and Latin American independence. It began operations on August 5, 1960, and during its last years of operation, handled about 6.2 million passengers and 164,000 metric tons of freight per year. The airport, one of the highest in the world was located in the northern part of the city, in the Chaupicruz parish, within five minutes of Quito's financial center; the terminals were located at the intersection of Amazonas and La Prensa avenues. Mariscal Sucre International was the largest hub for TAME with an average of 50 daily departures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copa Airlines Flight 201</span> 1992 aviation accident in Panama

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SAETA Air Ecuador was a privately held airline of Ecuador, which was founded in 1966. During its heyday in the 1990s, it flew to numerous destinations in North and South America from its base in Guayaquil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariscal Lamar International Airport</span> International airport in Cuenca, Azuay Province, Ecuador

Mariscal Lamar International Airport is a high elevation airport serving Cuenca, the capital of the Azuay Province in Ecuador. It is named after the Peruvian military leader and politician José de la Mar, a native of Cuenca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastwind Airlines Flight 517</span> 1996 aviation incident

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Trigana Air is an airline based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

SAN was an airline which was based in Guayaquil, Ecuador that was the domestic branch of the airline SAETA. It was founded in 1964, and ceased operations in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish Airlines Flight 278</span> 1994 plane crash in Turkey

Turkish Airlines Flight 278, operated by a Boeing 737-4Y0 registered TC-JES and named Mersin, was a domestic scheduled flight from Ankara Esenboğa Airport to Van Ferit Melen Airport in eastern Turkey that crashed on 29 December 1994 during its final approach to land in driving snow. Five of the seven crew and 52 of the 69 passengers lost their lives, while two crew members and 17 passengers survived with serious injuries.

Ricaurte is a town and parish in Cuenca Canton, Azuay Province, Ecuador. The parish covers an area of 14.3 km² and according to the 2001 Ecuadorian census it had a population total of 14,006.

In aeronautics, loss of control (LOC) is the unintended departure of an aircraft from controlled flight and is a significant factor in several aviation accidents worldwide. In 2015 it was the leading cause of general aviation accidents. Loss of control may be the result of mechanical failure, external disturbances, aircraft upset conditions, or inappropriate crew actions or responses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363</span> November 2013 aircraft accident in Kazan, Russia

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References

  1. 1 2 Flight International : 286. 28 January 1984.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-2V2 HC-BIG Cuenca". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation . Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  3. ↑ "Hace 29 años terminó un periodo trágico para la aviación en Cuenca" [29 years ago a tragic period for aviation in Cuenca ended]. EL TIEMPO (in European Spanish). 11 July 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "HC-BIG TAME Boeing 737-200". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  5. ↑ "TAME Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 "119 Die in Ecuador Airline Crash". The New York Times. Associated Press. 12 July 1983. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  7. 1 2 Gorriaran, Ramon (12 July 1983). "Estalla en el aire un avión militar ecuatoriano con 119 personas a bordo" [An Ecuadorian military plane with 119 people on board explodes in the air]. El País (in Spanish). Ediciones El País. ISSN   1134-6582 . Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "Una tragedia aérea hace treinta años" [An aerial tragedy thirty years ago]. web.revistavance.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "'Saboteurs' may have downed jet". Montreal Journal. 13 July 1983.
  10. ↑ "Five Americans among victims of Ecuadorean airline crash". The Deseret News. 12 July 1983.
  11. ↑ "119 die in crash of Ecuadorean jet". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 12 July 1983.
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