Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109

An Aeropostal McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 similar to the one involved.
Accident
Date	March 5, 1991 (1991-03-05)
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site	Near La Valesa, Venezuela
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
Operator	Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela
Registration	YV-23C
Flight origin	La Chinita International Airport, Maracaibo, Venezuela
Destination	Santa Barbara Ed-L Delicias Airport, Venezuela
Occupants	45
Passengers	40
Crew	5
Fatalities	45
Survivors	0

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 ^{[1] [2]} was a short-haul flight from La Chinita International Airport in Maracaibo, Venezuela to Santa Barbara Ed-L Delicias Airport that crashed on March 5, 1991.

Aircraft

The aircraft used on Flight 109 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, which has been in service with Aeropostal for 14 years; the aircraft had been manufactured in 1976. ^[3]

The "Guillotine of Los Andes"

The Páramo "Los Torres" is known among Venezuelan pilots as The Guillotine ("Russian roulette") of the Andes. In a literal sense, it is a steep, usually foggy mountain that pilots had trouble avoiding before proper ground proximity warning systems were installed in planes. Prior to Flight 109, two other commercial aircraft had crashed near "The Guillotine". On December 15, 1950, an Avensa Douglas DC-3 flying from Mérida to Caracas crashed, killing all 28 passengers and 3 crew. Ten years later, on December 15, 1960, a Ransa flight crashed, killing all of its passengers. ^[4]

Accident

Wreckage of YV-23C

Flight 109 took off from La Chinita International Airport with 45 passengers and crew. Several minutes later, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashed on the side of a foggy mountain near "The Guillotine" near La Valesa in the La Aguada sector of the Páramo Los Torres and burst into flames. All 45 people on board died. ^[3]

Cause

An investigation into the accident found that the cause of the crash was pilot error. The pilots inadvertently entered the wrong radial into their navigation system and went off course. Because of fog in the area, the pilots did not know they were on a collision course with the mountain. ^{[5] [6]}

See also

Other wreckage from YV-23C

• Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 - On February 21, 2008, an ATR 42, crashed into the "Los Conejos" moor, several minutes after taking off from Alberto Carnevalli Airport in Mérida. All 43 passengers and three crew members were killed in the accident. The remains of the aircraft were found the following day in a mountain range approximately 10 kilometers northeast of Mérida at an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,700 m). After the accident, the company started a new public relations program and rebranded SBA Airlines. Like Flight 109, Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 did not have accurate information of the route it was flying. ^[7]

References

1. "Historias de la Violencia. Muerte en el Páramo" [Stories of Violence: Death in the Moorlands]. El Universal (in Spanish). July 24, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
2. Suensverg, Nunziatina Maugeri (March 5, 2023). "Se cumplen 32 años de la tragedia del vuelo 109 de Aeropostal" [32 years since the tragedy of Aeropostal flight 109]. Noticia al Dia (in Spanish). Retrieved December 30, 2024.
3. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 YV-23C Valera". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on April 12, 2005. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
4. Zabala, Ángel Mendoza (March 5, 2016). ""Cadena de errores 'tumbó' el avión de Aeropostal": experto aeronáutico" ["Chain of errors 'knocked down' the Aeropostal plane": aeronautical expert]. panorama.com.ve (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
5. Bravo, Luis (March 5, 2016). "Hace 25 años se estrelló vuelo 108 de Aeropostal en páramo Los Torres (fotos)" [25 years ago Aeropostal flight 108 crashed in Los Torres páramo (photos)]. panorama.com.ve (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
6. "Crash of a Douglas DC-9-32 on Mt La Aguada: 45 killed". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
7. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-300 YV1449 Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2021.

External links

• HISTORIA ACCIDENTES AEREOS VENEZUELA on YouTube
• ACCIDENTE AEROPOSTAL SANTA BARBARA1991 ARJONAVISION1 HD on YouTube