The 1986 Aerovías Guatemala air crash occurred on 18 January 1986 and involved a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III that crashed into a hill on approach to Santa Elena Airport,

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

after a short flight from Guatemala City's

La Aurora International Airport La Aurora International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora, ) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua Guatemala. It is administered by the Dirección General de Aeronáut ...

. All 93 passengers and crew on board were killed, making it the worst air disaster in Guatemalan history.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III built in 1960. It was converted to a series 6N standard in 1962. Ecuadorian airline

SAETA SAETA Air Ecuador (legally ''Sociedad Anónima Ecuatoriana de Transportes Aéreos S.A.'') 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 Ame ...

purchased the aircraft in 1975. Aerovías in Guatemala leased it from SAETA in 1985 in response to the increasing number of tourists visiting Guatemala.

Accident

This 40-minute flight was taking Guatemalan and foreign tourists from Guatemala City to Santa Elena Airport, in Flores, some northeast of Guatemala City. Flores is a common staging point for visits to the ancient Maya city of

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

. The aircraft took off on Saturday morning at 7:25 local time from

in Guatemala City with 87 passengers and 6 crew on board. After approximately 30 minutes the aircraft was cleared to land at Santa Elena Airport. However the first approach was too high and the aircraft overshot the runway. On its second approach the aircraft crashed and caught fire about 8 km from the airport. The control tower's last contact with the crew occurred at 7:58, 33 minutes into the 40-minute flight, with no reports of any anomalies. The accident killed all 93 people on board: 87 passengers and 6 crew members. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the accident.

Cause

An investigation carried out into the crash was unable to determine the exact cause of the accident. Low cloud cover may have caused the pilots to lose orientation and crash.

Notable passengers

Former Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister, , his wife and two daughters perished in the crash

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aerovias Guatemala Crash, 1986 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1986 Aviation accidents and incidents in Guatemala Accidents and incidents involving the Sud Aviation Caravelle 1986 in Guatemala January 1986 events in North America

Aircraft

Accident

Cause

Notable passengers

See also

References