On 7 January 1972, Iberia Flight 602 crashed into a mountain near Ibiza Town, Spain. The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle operating the flight had taken off from Valencia Airport in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain, destined for

Ibiza Airport Ibiza Airport ( ca, Aeroport d'Eivissa, es, Aeropuerto de Ibiza) is the international airport serving the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Formentera in Spain located southwest of Ibiza Town. In 2020, the airport handled 2.1 million passeng ...

on the Balearic island of

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

. All 98 passengers and 6 crew died in the crash.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft was a Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle that first flew on 25 June 1963 and was powered by two Rolls-Royce RA-29 Mk.533R Avon turbojet engines. Delivered to Iberia on 9 July, the aircraft was initially named ''

Tomás Luis de Victoria Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as ''da Vittoria''; ) was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Ren ...

'' after the Spanish Composer of the same name, though this was later shortened to ''Maestro Victoria''. Flight 602 was under the command of 37-year-old captain José Luis Ballester Sepúlveda, with 7,000 flying hours' experience, first officer Jesús Montesinos Sánchez, and fight engineer Vicente Rodríguez Mesa.

The crash

Flight 602 was a domestic service flight that took off from Valencia Airport bound for Ibiza. On board were 6 crew and 98 passengers, most of whom were Valencia natives returning to Ibiza for work after the holidays. At approximately 12:15 p.m., the aircraft's captain radioed Ibiza Airport, requesting permission to descend to 5,500 feet (1,676 meters). Ibiza Airport sources reported that he also said, "Get me a beer ready, we are here." The aircraft was approaching Runway 07 when it descended below . Reportedly, neither the captain nor the co-pilot noticed the dangerous descent, as they were discussing a football match with the airport tower controller. Flight 602 struck Mount Atalayasa approximately below its summit. The aircraft exploded on impact. All 98 passengers and 6 crew on board were killed. At the time of the crash, visibility was approximately and the weather was described as high overcast with broken clouds.

Cause

It was ruled that the pilot had failed to maintain the minimum flight altitude for a visual approach to Runway 07.

References

External links

* () {{International Airlines Group Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain Transport in Ibiza 1972 in Spain Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Accidents and incidents involving the Sud Aviation Caravelle Iberia (airline) accidents and incidents January 1972 events in Europe