Aerosucre Flight 157

Aerosucre Flight 157 was a domestic cargo flight operated by Colombian cargo airline Aerosucre using a Boeing 727-200. On 20 December 2016, the aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, on a flight to Bogotá. The jet overran the end of the runway, struck the perimeter fence and other obstacles before becoming airborne, but lost control and crashed about two minutes later and 4 nautical miles (4.6 mi; 7.4 km) from the airport. Of the six people on board, only one survived.[1][2]

Aerosucre Flight 157
HK-4544 overrunning the runway, moments before the accident
Accident
Date20 December 2016 (2016-12-20)
SummaryCrashed following runway excursion on take-off and loss of control
SiteGermán Olano Airport, Puerto Carreño, Colombia
6°11′14.40″N 67°34′0.40″W
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 727-2J0F
OperatorAerosucre
ICAO flight No.KRE157
RegistrationHK-4544
Flight originGermán Olano Airport, Puerto Carreño, Colombia
DestinationEl Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, Colombia
Occupants6
Passengers1
Crew5
Fatalities5
Injuries1
Survivors1

The subsequent investigation found that a number of factors, including a take-off weight in excess of the maximum permissible, an incorrect take-off technique and a slight tailwind resulted in the failure of the aircraft to become airborne within the available runway length.[3]

Accident
Puerto Carreño
Bogotá
Map of Colombia showing the location of the crash site at Puerto Carreño airport

The Boeing 727 arrived at Puerto Carreño on the day of the accident at 14:48 local time, after a cargo flight from Bogotá. The crew unloaded 20,423 pounds of cargo. Although the weight and balance manifest of the accident flight was not found, investigators presumed that slightly less than 20,000 pounds of cargo distributed on nine pallets was loaded for the return to Bogotá. The 727 then taxied onto Runway 25 threshold; the crew set the flaps at 30 degrees, the plane was trimmed for takeoff, and the plane started its takeoff run at 17:18.

The 727 used all of the 1,800-metre (5,900 ft) runway, but was still not airborne. It traveled another 95 m (310 ft) over grass and struck a perimeter fence. It then crossed a road, hit a shed and a tree before finally becoming airborne. Due to the impact, the right main landing gear detached from the aircraft, the inboard right flap was damaged, engine 3 lost power, and one hydraulic system was damaged and leaking. The aircraft achieved an altitude of 790 ft (240 m), entered a slight right hand descending turn which completed a near 270-degree arc and then impacted flat terrain, bursting into flames.[1] The accident was captured on video by motorcyclists near the airport.[4]

Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved photographed in 1994, while in operation with Air Jamaica under a previous registration

The aircraft involved in the crash was a Boeing 727-200 registered HK-4544 with serial number 21105. It entered service in 1975, operating as a passenger aircraft for Air Jamaica until 1997. It was then converted into a cargo aircraft.[5] The aircraft began operating for Aerosucre in 2008.[6]

The captain was 58-year-old Jaime Cantillo, who had been with Aerosucre since 1997 and was licensed to fly the Boeing 727 in 2005. He had logged 8,708 flight hours, including 6,822 hours on the Boeing 727. The first officer was 39-year-old Mauricio Guzmán, who had been with the airline since 2008 and had 3,285 flight hours, all of which were on the Boeing 727. The flight engineer was 72-year-old Pedro Duarte, who joined Aerosucre in 2013 and had logged 1,612 flight hours, though his flight experience on the Boeing 727 was unknown.[7]:12–14[8][9]

Victims

The flight plan indicated five people aboard, but there was an undocumented sixth person on the flight. Four died immediately and two survived the impact, but one of the two died later from injuries.[6] The sole survivor was flight technician Diego Armando Vargas Bravo.[10]

Investigation

The Colombian government's Air Accident Investigation Group (Grupo de Investigación de Accidentes Aéreos; GRIAA) concluded that three factors extended the aircraft’s take-off run by 380 m (1,250 ft), resulting in a runway excursion that eventually lead to the crash:

  • The crew incorrectly calculated a rotation speed that was 5 knots (9 km/h; 6 mph) higher than necessary.
  • The chosen take-off runway was subject to a 4-knot (7 km/h; 5 mph) tail wind.
  • The pilot rotated the aircraft too slowly, at about 1° per second instead of 2°~3°.

Furthermore, although initial calculations suggested the aircraft was operating within its weight limits, the investigators believe, based on the take-off speeds used by the crew, that the aircraft was actually almost a tonne above its maximum permissible take-off weight of 74.7 tonnes (74,700 kg; 165,000 lb).[1][3]

The investigation also determined that following the loss of pressure in both main hydraulic systems caused by the impact with ground structures, the crew did not activate the standby hydraulic system, which would have enabled them to maintain control of the aircraft.[1]

The operator Aerosucre was found in breach of regulations, since Puerto Carreño airport was not approved for operations with the Boeing 727-200, and such breach was allowed to continue for years due to lack of supervision by the Colombian civil aviation authority.[1][7]

References
  1. Hradecky, Simon (29 August 2018). "Crash: Aerosucre B722 at Puerto Carreno on Dec 20th 2016, overran runway on takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  2. Kauh, Elaine (21 December 2016). "Colombian Cargo B727 Crashes, Five Dead". AVweb. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. Kaminski-Morrow, David (4 September 2018). "Aerosucre crash followed flawed speed decision". Flight International. No. 5652. p. 18.
  4. Martinez, Claudya (22 December 2016). "The Cause Of This Colombian Plane Crash Is Unknown, But The Incident Happened To Be Captured On Video". Mitú. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. Waldron, Greg (21 December 2016). "Video: Aerosucre 727 freighter crashes in Colombia". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  6. Ranter, Harro (26 December 2016). "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727-2J0F Adv. HK-4544 Puerto Carreño-Germán Olano Airport (PCR)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  7. "Informe Final Accidente HK4544.pdf" [Final Accident Report HK4544] (PDF). www.aerocivil.gov.co (in Spanish). Grupo de Investigación de Accidentes Aéreos. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  8. "Five crew dead after Aerosucre cargo plane crashes in Colombia". UPI. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  9. "Impactantes imágenes del siniestro aéreo ocurrido en Puerto Carreño" [Shocking images of the air accident that occurred in Puerto Carreño]. Noticias Caracol (in Spanish). 21 December 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  10. Sierra, Daniela Parra. "El destino de dos hermanos que abordaron el mismo avión que se cayó" [The fate of two brothers who board the same plane that crashed]. utadeo.edu.co (in Spanish). Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
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