AIRES Flight 8250

AIRES Flight 8250 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that on 16 August 2010 crashed on landing at night in poor weather on the Colombian island of San Andrés, killing 2 of the 131 people on board. The aircraft, an AIRES-operated Boeing 737-700, was arriving from the Colombian capital Bogotá when it heavily touched down short of the runway, breaking up in three sections.

AIRES Flight 8250
HK-4682, the aircraft involved, seen at Bogotá Airport five months before the crash
Accident
Date16 August 2010 (2010-08-16)
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
SiteGustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport, San Andrés, Colombia
12°34′45″N 81°43′10″W
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-73V
OperatorAIRES
ICAO flight No.ARE8250
RegistrationHK-4682
Flight originEl Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, Colombia
DestinationGustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport, San Andrés, Colombia
Occupants131
Passengers125
Crew6
Fatalities2
Injuries129
Survivors129

The official investigation concluded that the crash was caused by the misjudgement by the crew of the aircraft's altitude during the last phase of the approach.[1]

History of the flight

Flight 8250 was operated by the local, privately owned Colombian airline AIRES.[2][3] The aircraft was on a flight from Bogotá to the Colombian island of San Andrés, in the Caribbean.[3] A popular tourist destination, San Andres Island is about 190 kilometres (120 mi; 100 nmi) east of the Nicaraguan coast.[3]

The flight took off from Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport at 00:07 en route to Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport with 125 passengers and six crew. Captain Wilson Gutierrez (age 43) was the pilot flying (PF) while First Officer Camilo Piñeyros Rodriguez (age 25) was the pilot monitoring (PM).[4]

Accident

The crash occurred as the aircraft landed at San Andrés at 1:49 am local Western Caribbean Time (UTC−05:00).[3][5] The Boeing 737 broke up into three main sections.[6] The impact occurred about 260 feet (80 m) before the start of the runway, with wreckage spread about another 328 feet (100 m).[5] The aircraft skidded along the runway, fracturing the landing gear and ripping one engine from the wings.[7] The aircraft's nose and first eight rows of seating came to rest on the runway pointing in a different direction to the rest of the wreckage.[5] Airport fire crews quickly doused a small fire that had started on a wing.[7] As a result of the accident, the Comité Regional de Prevención y Atención de Desastres was mobilized.[8]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-73V,[Notes 1] registration HK-4682, with serial number (MSN) 32416, construction number 1270.[9] The aircraft was built in 2003,[9] and was first delivered to EasyJet registered as G-EZJU. It was then sold to AIRES in March 2010.[9] Investigators said the day after the crash that the aircraft's maintenance log was up to date.[7]

Passengers and crew
Seat plan

There were contradictory reports as to how many people were aboard the aircraft.[5] Reports range from 121 passengers and 6 crew members,[2] 131 passengers and crew,[3] and at least 127 people aboard.[5] The report of 131 people was further broken down as 121 adult passengers and four minors.[5] Reports the day after the accident settled on 131 people aboard: 125 passengers and 6 crew.[7][10][11][12]

One early report stated that 114 people were injured in the crash, and that of 99 passengers taken to the Amor de Patria Hospital on San Andrés, only 4 had suffered major injuries.[3] Reports a day later settled on a figure of 119 people being taken to local hospitals, mostly with minor injuries.[7][12] Thirteen survivors, including four with serious injuries, were flown to Bogota for treatment.[7]

Initial reports indicated one fatality, an elderly lady dying of a heart attack.[13] The final fatality count was two. Autopsy revealed that a 68-year-old woman suffered a ruptured aorta and ruptured liver.[6] She died on the way to the hospital.[2][3] The second fatality was a girl;[14] she sustained substantial brain damage and died 16 days after the accident.[15]

One report stated that the passenger list included six Americans, five Mexicans, four Brazilians, four Ecuadorians and two Germans, the rest being Colombians.[5] Another report stated there were three Americans aboard.[16] A later report put the number of non-Colombians aboard as 'at least 16'.[11]

Investigation
Wreckage

Colombia's civil aviation authority, Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics, and the Colombian Air Force opened an investigation into the accident.[8] The airport was closed as investigators examined the wreckage.[2] The closure was expected to last until 06:00 on 17 August.[8]

The aircraft reportedly crashed in bad weather, while a storm was reported in the area, but not at the airport.[5] The METAR (aviation routine weather observation message) report in force at the time of the accident indicated that the wind was from the east north east at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph), visibility was good and that the runway was wet.[Notes 2][6] The aircraft "landed in the middle of an intense electrical storm" according to Colonel Barrero.[2]

Passenger accounts the day after the crash detailed how the approach appeared to have been going normally, with the flight attendants having made the passengers ready for landing, when the crash occurred suddenly and without warning.[7][10][11] The pilot did not report an emergency to the tower.[12] There were conflicting reports over what caused the crash, suggesting that the landing was disrupted after the aircraft was hit by a downdraft, or struck by lightning.[5] The pilot said that the aircraft was struck by lightning. Officials refused to comment on the reports of a lightning strike,[3][5][8] although subsequent research proved that was not true. No aircraft has had an accident caused by lightning since 1971. The airport was not fitted with equipment such as a Doppler radar, used to detect wind shear.[7]

Both the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered from the wreckage.[7] Based on the pattern of wreckage, investigators concluded that the aircraft had broken up on impact and not while in the air.[7]

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to support the Colombian-led investigation as representatives of the manufacturer's state.[17]

Almost one year after the accident, on 15 July 2011, the Security Council of Aeronáutica Civil concluded that the cause of the accident was the execution of the final approach below the glide path, due to an error of judgment by the crew who believed they were much higher. This is typical of a "black hole" illusion, which is experienced during a night approach to a low contrast runway environment surrounded by bright lights, aggravated by heavy rain.[1] Aeronaútica Civil recommended retraining of the crew. Although the accident was caused by human error, Aeronaútica representative Colonel Carlos Silva reminded that the purpose of the investigation was not to apportion blame but to prevent aircraft accidents that may occur in the future. [18]

The accident is featured in the fifth episode of Season 20 of Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation. The episode is titled "Runway Breakup".[19]

Notes
  1. The aircraft was a Boeing 737-700 model; Boeing assigns a unique code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as an infix to the model number at the time the aircraft is built, hence "737-73V".
  2. Raw data from the METAR report were: SKSP 160500Z 07006KT 9999 FEW016 SCT200 29/26 A2990=Translated: Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport date: 16th day of the month, time: 0500 zulu/UTC, wind: 070° at 6 kt, visibility: 10 km or more, few clouds at 1600 ft., scattered clouds at 20000 ft., temperature 29 °C, dew point 26 °C, altimeter setting (pressure) 29.90 inHg.

References
  1. Accidente ocurrido el día 16 de Agosto de 2010 a la aeronave Boeing 737-700, Matrícula HK-4682 en el Aeropuerto Internacional Gustavo Rojas Pinilla de la Isla de San Andrés - Colombia (PDF) (Report). UAEAC. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  2. "Colombian airliner crashes during storm leaving one dead". Reuters. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  3. "Colombia plane breaks into pieces after crash". BBC News. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  4. "Gobierno no descarta que un rayo causará el accidente aéreo" (in Spanish). RCN Radio. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  5. "Jet breaks apart during landing in Colombia". CNN. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  6. "Accident: Aires B737 at San Andres Island on 16 Aug 2010, landed short of runway and broke up". Aviation Herald. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  7. "130 survive 'miracle' plane crash in Colombia". Associated Press. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  8. "Ministro de Transporte descartó fallas técnicas de la aeronave que se accidentó en San Andrés" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  9. "Boeing 737 Next Gen – MSN 32416". Airfleets. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  10. "Colombian 'Miracle' Plane Crash: Inside the Story of Survival". ABC News. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  11. "Air crash 'miracle' for Colombia as plane breaks up". BBC News. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  12. "'Miracle' in Colombia crash: Woman dies, 130 live". Yahoo. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  13. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/americas/17colombia.html
  14. "Comunicado de Prensa 06 Archived 9 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine." AIRES. Retrieved on 15 September 2010.
  15. https://www.elpais.com.co/colombia/companeras-de-colegio-dieron-el-ultimo-adios-a-maria-camila-angarita.html
  16. "Ministro de Transporte atribuyó al clima el accidente aéreo en San Andrés" (in Spanish). Caracol. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  17. "NTSB sending team to assist government of Colombia with today's 737 accident" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. 16 August 2010.
  18. "Error del piloto y mal tiempo, causas del accidente de avión de Aires" [Pilot error and bad weather, causes of the plane crash in Aires]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 15 July 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  19. AIRES Flight 8250 at IMDb
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