SAM Colombia Flight 501 was a

Boeing 727-46 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

that crashed on 19 May 1993, killing all 132 on board. The aircraft collided with a mountain while on approach to Medellín, Colombia.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-46, registered as HK-2422X (factory no. 18876, serial no. 217), which was built in 1965 and had its maiden flight on December 30 of that year. The aircraft was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A turbofan engines. The aircraft was delivered to Japan Airlines on January 7, 1966, and was registered as JA8309. On November 16, 1972, the airliner was leased to Korean Air, where it was re-registered as HL7309. On November 9, 1980, Korean Air sold the aircraft to SAM Colombia, where it was re-registered as HK-2422X. The flight crew consisted of captain Mauricio Oswaldo Vacca Mejía, first officer Julio César Andrade Granados, and flight engineer Jaime Martínez.

Accident

At 14:18, Flight 501 took off from Panama City, Panama, bound for Bogotá, Colombia, with a stopover in Medellín. The aircraft climbed to

flight level In aviation and aviation meteorology, a flight level (FL) is an aircraft's altitude at standard air pressure, expressed in hundreds of feet. The air pressure is computed assuming an International Standard Atmosphere pressure of 1013.25 hPa ...

160 (about ). On board were 7 crew members and 125 passengers, including several Panamanian dentists on their way to a convention.

Thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

activity in the area made

automatic direction finder An automatic direction finder (ADF) is a marine or aircraft radio-navigation instrument that automatically and continuously displays the relative bearing from the ship or aircraft to a suitable radio station. ADF receivers are normally tuned to ...

(ADF) navigation more difficult, and the Medellín

VOR/DME In radio navigation, a VOR/DME is a radio beacon that combines a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) with a distance-measuring equipment (DME). The VOR allows the receiver to measure its bearing to or from the beacon, while the DME provides the slan ...

was unusable, having been attacked by terrorists. The crew reported over the Abejorral NDB beacon at FL160, as they were approaching

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

. The flight was then cleared to descend to FL120 (about ), after which communication was lost. After multiple failed attempts to contact the flight, Medellín ATC declared an emergency. Because the

radio beacon In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction-finding equipment to find relative bearing. But instead of employing visible light, radio beacons transmit electromagnet ...

was unserviceable, the crew made navigational errors. The 727 had actually not yet reached the beacon, and descended into mountainous terrain. The flight then struck the Mount Paramo Frontino.

References

External links

* Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Aviation accidents and incidents caused by air traffic controller error Aviation accidents and incidents in 1993 Aviation accidents and incidents in Colombia SAM Colombia accidents and incidents 1993 in Colombia May 1993 events in South America {{aviation-accident-stub