The Dominicana DC-9 air disaster, also known as the Dominicana de Aviación Santo Domingo DC-9 air disaster, was an international flight that suffered a fatal accident on February 15, 1970. The
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
After ...
crashed shortly after takeoff from
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional)
, webs ...
,
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
. The crash killed all 102 passengers and crew on board.
Aircraft
The aircraft, a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
After ...
registered HI-177 (with serial number 47500 and serial 546), was built by
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...
the previous year. It had its maiden flight on September 30, 1969. The aircraft was registered HI-177 and delivered to Dominicana on December 16 the same year. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 turbofan engines. It had been in service with Dominicana for less than a month (with only 354 flying hours) when it crashed.
Accident
The jetliner was on an international flight from
Las Américas International Airport
Las Américas International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas, or AILA) is an international airport located in Punta Caucedo, near Santo Domingo and Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic. The airport is run by Aeropuertos Domi ...
near Santo Domingo, to San Juan's
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muñoz ...
. It took off at about 6:30 PM. Two minutes after departure one of its engines lost power. The crew declared an emergency, telling air traffic controllers that the right engine had flamed out, and they requested to immediately return to the airport. While the crew were preparing to turn back toward the airport, the left engine also flamed out. The aircraft then descended until it hit the sea about two miles south of the airport. There were no survivors among the 97 passengers and five crew members on board.
Notable victims
Several famous passengers were among the dead, including:
*Former world
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
There were initially concerns of a terrorist attack as the family of Antonio Imbert Barrera was on board. However, the investigation concluded that the cause of the crash was the sequential failure of both engines caused by fuel pollution due to water ingress. Neither the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or flight data recorder (FDR) was ever found.
Aftermath
Eight months before this accident, on June 23, 1969, in Miami, Florida, Dominicana Flight 401 crashed after take-off also due to an engine failure. The
Aviation Traders Carvair
The Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair is a retired large transport aircraft powered by four radial engines. It was a Douglas DC-4-based air ferry conversion developed by Freddie Laker's Aviation Traders (Engineering) Limited (ATL), with a capac ...
lost control and crashed into buildings, killing all four people on board as well as six people on the ground.
Immediately after the Santo Domingo crash, Dominicana suspended all operations. Four of the airline's
mechanics
Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
(FAA) banned Dominicana aircraft from operating to the United States. The ban was lifted later in the year after Dominicana leased a replacement DC-9 aircraft, to be flown by crews from the Spanish airline
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
."Dominicana to Resume" ''Flight International'', 16 April 1970, p.615 (PDF web archive version) retrieved 2021-06-02
Dominicana eventually resumed full services, including to the United States. The airline flew until 1995 when it suspended services indefinitely, finally officially ceasing all operations during 1999.
See also
*
Aviation safety
Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...
*
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...