TAESA Flight 725 was a scheduled flight originating in Tijuana International Airport and ending at Mexico City International Airport with intermediate stopovers in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

and

Uruapan Uruapan is the second largest city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located at the western edge of the Purépecha highlands, just to the east of the Tierra Caliente region. Since the colonial period, it has been an important city economic ...

, that crashed shortly after departure from this last airport on November 9, 1999, killing all 18 passengers and crew on board. The crash led TAESA to ground its fleet and suspend operations a year later in 2000. Investigators determined that the crew did not use the appropriate checklists prior to departure, and during the climbout, the pilots were confused about which heading to follow. Spatial disorientation was also believed to be a factor in the crash.

Aircraft

The aircraft operating the flight was an McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-31, manufactured by McDonnell-Douglas, and first entered service with

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

in February 1970. It was 29 years old at the time of the accident and accumulated more than 59,000 takeoff/landing cycles and 58,000 flight hours. Before being delivered to TAESA Lineas Aéreas, it previously operated for Australian Airlines, Sunworld International Airlines, Midway Airlines,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

and

Aeroméxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; stylized as AM), is the flag carrier airline of Mexico, based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico; North, South and Central Ame ...

Passengers and crew

The captain was 36-year-old Jesús José Graciá. He had 5,368 flight hours. The first officer was 22-year-old Héctor Valdez, who had 250 flight hours at the time of the accident. There were 18 people on board the DC-9 at the time it crashed, with 13 passengers and 5 crew members.

Flight

The aircraft departed Uruapan for Mexico City at 18:59 local time. After

rotation Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...

the aircraft pitched up abnormally high, entered a stall, nosed over and crashed into an avocado field south of the runway on a heading of 110 degrees. All 18 people on board were killed.

In popular culture

*A Mexican musical group named Conjunto Michoacan released, on October 20, 2010, a CD titled "La Tragedia de Taesa", but in the song's video, the flight is referred to as "Flight 715" instead. Also, the CD's cover has a photo of a

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified o ...

, whereas the Taesa plane that crashed was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 jet.

References

External links

Boeing Expresses Condolences After TAESA Accident
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Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

NTSB Identification
Aviation accidents and incidents in Mexico Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 1999 in Mexico November 1999 events in Mexico Transportation in Michoacán {{aviation-accident-stub