TACA Flight 390

Last updated

TACA Flight 390
TACA Flight 390.jpg
The wreckage of TACA Flight 390
Accident
DateMay 30, 2008
Summary Runway overrun, pilot error
Site Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
14°04′13″N87°12′51″W / 14.0702°N 87.2141°W / 14.0702; -87.2141
Total fatalities5 (including 2 on the ground)
Aircraft
Aircraft type Airbus A320-233
Operator TACA
Registration EI-TAF [1]
Flight origin El Salvador International Airport, San Salvador, El Salvador
1st stopoverToncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2nd stopover Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Destination Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida
Passengers124
Crew11
Fatalities3 [2]
Injuries65
Survivors121
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities2

TACA Flight 390 was a scheduled flight on May 30, 2008, by TACA International from San Salvador, El Salvador, to Miami, Florida, United States, with intermediate stops at Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras. [3] The aircraft, an Airbus A320-233, overran the runway after landing at Tegucigalpa's Toncontín International Airport and rolled out into a street, crashing into an embankment and smashing several cars in the process. [4]

Contents

Aircraft and crew

EI-TAF, the aircraft involved in the accident while leased to Cubana. TACA Airbus A320-233 EI-TAF.jpg
EI-TAF, the aircraft involved in the accident while leased to Cubana.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-233 with c/n 1374. It was built in 2000 and entered service with TACA in 2001 as N465TA before re-registered as EI-TAF in 2006. The aircraft was leased twice to Cubana de Avación and Martinair in 2001 and 2007 respectively. [5] [6]

The flight crew included Salvadorans Captain Cesare Edoardo D'Antonio Mena (40) and First Officer Juan Rodolfo Artero Arevalo (26). [7] [8] All cabin crew members operating on the flight were Hondurans. Captain D'Antonio had 11,899 flight hours, including 8,514 hours on the Airbus A320, and first officer Artero had 1,607 hours with 250 of them on the Airbus A320. Both pilots had previous experience in landing at Toncontín International Airport; captain D'Antonio had landed at the airport 52 times, and first officer Artero had landed there five times. [9]

Accident

Flight 390 departed from San Salvador at 9:05 local time with 124 passengers and eleven crew. At 09:40, the flight landed on runway 02 at Toncontín International Airport. Although both thrust reversers were deployed and the spoilers were activated, the aircraft overshot the runway at a speed of 54 knots (62 mph; 100 km/h), crossed an embankment, and crashed into a road beside the airport. [1]

A list of passengers was provided in the fifth press release on the crash from TACA international. This list was in the Spanish and English sections. [10]

Five people died as a result of the accident, including Captain D'Antonio. [11] The deceased passengers were later confirmed as Jeanne Chantal Neele, the wife of Brian Michael Fraser Neele  [ de ] (Brazil's ambassador to Honduras, who was also on board), and Nicaraguan businessman Harry Brautigam, president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; Brautigam died from a heart attack. [12] Ambassador Fraser Neele sustained injuries in the crash. The former head of the Honduran armed forces was also injured. There were two fatalities on the ground, one a taxi driver, in one of three vehicles crushed on the street by the aircraft. One of the survivors said that the business class passengers sustained the most serious injuries. [2]

Investigation

Honduran authorities delegated the investigation of the accident to the Civil Aviation Authority of El Salvador as per the Convention on International Civil Aviation. [13] The accident report stated that the airplane had landed with a 12-knot (22 km/h; 14 mph) tailwind, 400 metres (1,300 ft) from the displaced approach end of the runway. Since this was the first intermediate stop on a long transcontinental flight, the aircraft was near its upper landing-weight limit (63.5t vs. 64.5t maximum allowable). In addition, the runway was wet, due to the passage of Tropical Storm Alma. [1] [9]

The Aviation Herald retrieved a copy of the final report in 2017. The report itself has not been made public.[ needs update ] The Civil Aviation Authority concluded the cause of the accident was the flight crew's inappropriate decision to continue the landing despite not assessing the conditions of the runway, which did not follow standard operating procedures. The lack of grooving in the runway and the aircraft landing at a high speed of 160 knots (180 mph; 300 km/h) were also contributing factors. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Airlines</span> Defunct airline of India (1953–2011)

Indian Airlines was a state-owned airline in India that later became a division of Air India Limited before ultimately ceasing operations. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international services to neighbouring countries in Asia and limited flights to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It was a division of Air India Limited after the merger of eight pre-Independence domestic airlines.

Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano, S.A., known and formerly branded as TACA International Airlines), and operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings and based in San Salvador, El Salvador. It is one of the seven national branded airlines in the Avianca Group of Latin American airlines, and it serves as the flag carrier of El Salvador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toncontín International Airport</span> National airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Toncontín Airport formerly Toncontín International Airport, also known as Teniente Coronel Hernán Acosta Mejía Airport is a civil and military airport located 6 km (4 mi) from the centre of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

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

Servicio Aéreo de Honduras S.A. otherwise known as SAHSA Airlines was the national flag carrier airline of Honduras from October 22, 1945, to January 14, 1994. The airline was a subsidiary of Pan American Airways and merged with Transportes Aéreos Nacionales (TAN) to form TAN-SAHSA in November 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine Airlines Flight 137</span> 1998 aviation accident

Philippine Airlines Flight 137 was a scheduled passenger flight from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila to Bacolod City Domestic Airport in Bacolod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lufthansa Flight 2904</span> 1993 passenger plane crash in Warsaw, Poland

Lufthansa Flight 2904 was an Airbus A320-200 flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Warsaw, Poland that overran the runway at Okęcie International Airport on 14 September 1993.

Red Wings Airlines is a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The airline provides both scheduled passenger and cargo services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Airlines Flight 605</span> 1990 passenger aircraft landing crash in Bangalore, India

Indian Airlines Flight 605 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Bombay to Bangalore. On 14 February 1990, an Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashed onto a golf course while attempting to land at Bangalore, killing 92 of 146 people on board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAM Airlines Flight 3054</span> 2007 plane crash in São Paulo, Brazil

TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (JJ3054/TAM3054) was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TAM Airlines from Porto Alegre to São Paulo, Brazil. On the evening of July 17, 2007, the Airbus A320-233 serving the flight overran runway 35L at São Paulo after touching down during moderate rain and crashed into a nearby TAM Express warehouse adjacent to a Shell gas station. The aircraft exploded on impact, killing all 187 passengers and crew on board, as well as 12 people on the ground. An additional 27 people in the warehouse were injured. The accident surpassed Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 as the deadliest aviation accident in Brazilian territory and in South American history and was the deadliest involving the Airbus A320 series until the bombing of Metrojet Flight 9268 in 2015, which killed 224. This was the last major fatal plane crash in Brazil until 2024, when Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashed near São Paulo which killed 62.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Inter Flight 148</span> 1992 plane crash in the Vosges Mountains, France

Air Inter Flight 148 was a scheduled passenger flight from Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport to Strasbourg Airport in France. On 20 January 1992, the Airbus A320 operating the flight crashed into the slopes of the Vosges Mountains in Eastern France, near Mont Sainte-Odile, while on a non-precision approach at Strasbourg Airport. A total of 87 of the 96 people on board were killed, while the remaining 9 were all injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAN-SAHSA Flight 414</span> 1989 aviation accident

TAN-SAHSA Flight 414 was a scheduled flight from Juan Santamaría International Airport, San José, Costa Rica to Toncontín Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with a stopover at Augusto C. Sandino Airport in Managua, Nicaragua on 21 October 1989. Flown with a Boeing 727-200, the flight crashed into a mountain at 7:30 A.M. local time after the pilots failed to follow a special landing procedure required for the arrival to the airport. The crash killed 131 passengers, leaving 15 survivors. While 20 passengers initially survived, five died before treatment, due to a delay in rescue personnel because of bad weather. It remains, as of 2022, the worst aviation accident on Honduran soil and in Central America at large; it is also the 15th deadliest involving a Boeing 727.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central American Airways Flight 731</span> 2011 aviation accident

Central American Airways Flight 731 was a passenger flight which crashed on approach to Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on February 14, 2011. All 14 on board died. The aircraft involved, a Let L-410 Turbolet, was operating Central American Airlines' scheduled domestic service from San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportes Aéreos Nacionales</span>

Transportes Aéreos Nacionales SA, also known as TAN Airlines, was a Honduran airline, headquartered at the Edificio TAN in Tegucigalpa. The carrier was set up in 1947 and merged into SAHSA, another Honduran airline, in November 1991.

Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics, is the civil aviation authority of Honduras. The headquarters is in Tegucigalpa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Canada Flight 624</span> 2015 aviation accident

Air Canada Flight 624 was a scheduled Canadian domestic passenger flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During heavy snow and poor visibility, at 00:43 ADT on 29 March 2015, the Airbus A320-211 landed short of the runway and was severely damaged. Twenty-six people were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asiana Airlines Flight 162</span> 2015 aviation accident

Asiana Airlines Flight 162 was a regular short-haul international passenger flight from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, to Hiroshima Airport in Hiroshima, Japan. On 14 April 2015, the Airbus A320-232 aircraft touched down short of the runway, struck the localizer array, skidded onto the runway on its tail, and spun 120 degrees before finally coming to a rest on the grass, opposite the terminal building. The aircraft suffered substantial damage to the left wing and engine. Of the 82 people aboard, 27 were injured, one seriously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish Airlines Flight 1878</span> 2015 aviation accident

Turkish Airlines Flight 1878 was an international passenger flight from Milan–Malpensa Airport, Italy to Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey. On April 25, 2015, the aircraft executed a sharp roll just before landing, leading to a hard touchdown that caused significant damage to the starboard wing and a fire. A go-around was performed, and the aircraft then set up for a second landing attempt but veered off the runway during this approach. Fortunately, all 102 passengers and crew were unharmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303</span> Aircraft crash in Pakistan, 22 May 2020

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 was a scheduled domestic flight from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore to Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. On 22 May 2020, the Airbus A320 crashed into Model Colony, a densely populated residential area of Karachi only a few kilometres from the runway, while on a second approach after a failed landing attempt with landing gear not extended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LATAM Airlines Perú Flight 2213</span> 2022 aviation accident

LATAM Airlines Perú Flight 2213 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight in Peru from Lima to Juliaca. On 18 November 2022, the Airbus A320neo was taking off from Jorge Chávez International Airport when it collided with a fire engine that was crossing the runway, killing two firefighters and injuring a third, who died of his injuries seven months later. Forty passengers were injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off, making it the first hull loss of the A320neo family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ranter, Harro. "Accident description, Friday 30 May 2008, TACA International Airlines, EI-TAF". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Honduras crash forces diversions". BBC News. BBC. May 31, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  3. "Flightstats for TA390 SAL-TGU-SAP-MIA". May 30, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011.
  4. "Fatal crash at Honduran airport". BBC News . May 31, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  5. "EI-TAF TACA International Airlines Airbus A320-200". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  6. "TACA EI-TAF (Airbus A320 - MSN 1374) (Ex N465TA)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  7. "dantonio.pdf" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  8. "artero.pdf" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 Hradecky, Simon. "Crash: TACA A320 at Tegucigalpa on May 30th 2008, overran runway and crashed into embankment". The Aviation Herald . Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  10. "Noticias GRUPO TACA BOLETÍN INFORMATIVO No. 5" [News TACA GROUP INFORMATIVE BULLETIN No. 5] (Press release) (in Spanish). TACA Airlines. June 1, 2008. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008.
  11. Palencia, Gustavo (May 30, 2008). "Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 5 dead". Reuters. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  12. "Five die as Honduras jet overshoots runway". CNN . May 31, 2008. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
  13. "Preliminary report" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 3, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2009.