Accident | |
---|---|
Date | March 16, 1969 |
Summary | Short runway with faulty temperature sensors, and pilot error due to calculations of incorrect information leading to overloading of aircraft |
Site | Grano de Oro Airport, Maracaibo, Venezuela 10°41′38″N71°38′13″W / 10.694°N 71.637°W |
Total fatalities | 155 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 |
Operator | Viasa |
IATA flight No. | VA742 |
ICAO flight No. | VIA742 |
Call sign | Viasa 742 |
Registration | YV-C-AVD |
Flight origin | Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas |
Stopover | Grano de Oro Airport, Maracaibo |
Destination | Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida |
Occupants | 84 |
Passengers | 74 |
Crew | 10 |
Fatalities | 84 |
Survivors | 0 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 71 |
Viasa Flight 742 was an international, scheduled passenger flight from Caracas, Venezuela to Miami International Airport with an intermediate stopover in Maracaibo, Venezuela that crashed on 16 March 1969. After taking off on the Maracaibo to Miami leg, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 hit a series of power lines before crashing into the La Trinidad section of Maracaibo. All 84 people on board perished, as well as 71 on the ground. [1]
The DC-9 involved in the crash was on lease from Avensa and had been in service for less than a month. It was only two months old at the time of the accident and was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B engines. [1] [2] [3]
The first leg of the flight, from Caracas to Maracaibo, carried 57 people; 42 passengers and 10 crew members. The flight crew of the first leg consisted of two captains: Harry Gibson and Emiliano Savelli Maldonado.
The aircraft arrived at Maracaibo at 10:30. Captain Gibson disembarked and Captain Maldonado became the pilot in command of the last leg. The new first officer was Jose Gregorio Rodriguez Silva. 27 more passengers boarded the aircraft, which was loaded with 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb) of jet fuel. [4] [5]
Flight 742 began its takeoff roll at 12:00. As the DC-9 headed toward Ziruma, it failed to gain altitude, and the plane's left engine struck a power pole. As the plane banked left, a reflector struck the fuel tank, spilling fuel. After hitting another power pole, the plane's left wing was ripped off and the left engine exploded into flames. The plane crashed in a small park in La Trinidad. The impact was so hard that the right engine was torn off the plane and impacted a house. [4] [5]
Among the passenger who perished in the disaster was San Francisco Giants pitching prospect Néstor Chávez. [6]
The cause of the crash was attributed to faulty sensors, along with runway and take-off calculations made from erroneous information, which resulted in the aircraft being overloaded by more than 5,000 pounds [7] for the prevailing conditions. Only two days after the crash, Venezuela's Public Works Minister ascribed runway length as a contributing factor in the disaster. [8]
The crash resulted in the closure of the old Grano de Oro Airport and accelerated the construction of the new La Chinita International Airport. The new airport opened 8 months later in November 1969. [1]
Flight 742 is the deadliest accident involving the DC-9. It was also the deadliest accident in Venezuela until West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 (operated by a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, the DC-9's successor aircraft) crashed 36 years later in 2005. At the time, the crash was the world's deadliest civil air disaster. [9] The fatality total was surpassed by All Nippon Airways Flight 58, which killed 162 people after colliding with an F-86 fighter jet in 1971.
Venezolana Internacional de Aviación Sociedad Anónima, or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan flag carrier airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launched in November 1960, it was nationalised in 1975 due to financial problems, and re-privatised in 1991, with the major stake going to Iberia. The company ceased operations in January 1997, and went into liquidation.
Avensa was a Venezuelan airline headquartered in Caracas. It was in the process of financial restructuring, after it went into bankruptcy due to poor management in 2002, with Santa Barbara Airlines taking over its routes, although a single Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia continued to carry the Avensa name in service until it was grounded for good in 2004. Avensa operated from its hub at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetía.
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On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. The Constellation crashed on Miller Field in Staten Island and the DC-8 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground. The accident was the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time, and remains the deadliest accident in the history of United Airlines.
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela C.A. is a state-owned airline of Venezuela based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean. Its main base is Simón Bolívar International Airport. The airline ceased operations on September 24, 2017, after 88 years of service due to its financial position. On August 8, 2018, the company announced that it would begin scheduled service again, first to Havana, Cuba with three weekly flights.
Venezolana - Rutas Aéreas de Venezuela RAV S.A. is a Venezuelan charter airline headquartered in Maracaibo.
Intercontinental de Aviación S.A. was an airline based in Bogotá, Colombia. It operated domestic services and flights to neighboring countries. Its main hub was located at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, with a secondary hub at Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. The airline closed operations in 2005.
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 was a charter flight that crashed in northwest Venezuela in the early hours of Tuesday, 16 August 2005, killing all 160 passengers and crew on board. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration HK-4374X, was en route from Tocumen International Airport (PTY) in Panama City, Panama, to Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (FDF) in Fort-de-France, Martinique, France. While flying at 33,000 ft (10,000 m), the aircraft's speed gradually decreased until it entered an aerodynamic stall. The crew, probably under the mistaken belief that the aircraft had suffered a double engine flameout, did not take the necessary actions to recover from the stall. The confusion and lack of action resulted in the crash.
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell Aircraft to become McDonnell Douglas. Following the introduction of its first jetliner, the high capacity DC-8, in 1959, Douglas was interested in producing an aircraft suited to smaller routes. As early as 1958, design studies were conducted; approval for the DC-9, a smaller all-new jetliner, came on April 8, 1963. The DC-9-10 first flew on February 25, 1965, and gained its type certificate on November 23, to enter service with Delta Air Lines on December 8.
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Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940, operated by Mexicana de Aviación, was a scheduled international flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles with stopovers in Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán on March 31, 1986, utilizing a Boeing 727-200 registered as XA-MEM, when the plane crashed into El Carbón, a mountain in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range northwest of Mexico City, killing everyone on board. With 167 deaths, the crash of Flight 940 is the deadliest aviation disaster ever to occur on Mexican soil, and the deadliest involving a Boeing 727.
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 was an Argentinian domestic scheduled Posadas–Buenos Aires service operated with a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 that crashed on the lands of Estancia Magallanes, Nuevo Berlín, 32 kilometres away from Fray Bentos, Uruguay, on 10 October 1997. All 74 passengers and crew died upon impact. The accident remains the deadliest in Uruguayan history.
Western Airlines Flight 2605, nicknamed the "Night Owl", was an international scheduled passenger flight from Los Angeles, California, to Mexico City, Mexico. On October 31, 1979, at 5:42 a.m. CST (UTC−06:00), the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the flight crashed at Mexico City International Airport in fog after landing on a runway that was closed for maintenance. Of the 89 people on board, 72 were killed, in addition to a maintenance worker who died when the plane struck his vehicle.
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