On July 27, 1981, Aeroméxico Flight 230, operating a domestic passenger flight within Mexico, experienced a

hard landing A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The terms ''hard landing'' and ''firm landing'' are often confused though are inherently different. A hard la ...

and

Runway excursion A runway excursion is a runway safety incident in which an aircraft makes an inappropriate exit from the runway. This happens mainly due to late landings or inappropriate runway choice. There are several types of runway excursions: * A depa ...

at Chihuahua International Airport. Thirty-two people were killed when the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 jet aircraft was heavily damaged by impact with the ground and fire on approach in high winds.

Background

The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, registered as XA-DEN with

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47621/729. At the time of the crash, it was 7 years old.

Accident

The flight was uneventful until landing at Chihuahua. There were isolated

cumulonimbus Cumulonimbus () is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water va ...

clouds with strong

squalls A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...

and showers during approach and landing. Upon

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

, the aircraft bounced once and struck the ground with immense force. the aircraft then slid off the runway, broke up and caught fire. Thirty-four passengers and crew were able to flee the wreckage; the smoke and fire caused the deaths of those that remained trapped.

References

External links

36 Killed and 28 Hurt In Crash of Mexican Jet
– ''

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'' Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1981 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather Aviation accidents and incidents in Mexico 1981 in Mexico July 1981 in Mexico

230 Year 230 ( CCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Agricola and Clementinus (or, less frequently, year 983 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 230 for th ...

Aviation accidents and incidents involving runway excursions {{aviation-accident-stub