Boeing 737 Crash Lands on Colombian Island

Aviation Aviation News
1

Plane broke into 3 pieces - Only one person killed.

STORY

A Boeing 737 jetliner with 131 passengers aboard crashed on landing and broke into three pieces at a Colombian island in the Caribbean early Monday. The region’s governor said it was a miracle that only one person died.

Colombian Air Force Col. David Barrero said officials were investigating reports the plane had been hit by lightning before crashing at 1:49 a.m. (3:49 a.m. EDT; 0649 GMT) while landing at San Andres Island, a resort island of 78,000 people about 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of the Nicaraguan coast.

San Andres Gov. Pedro Gallardo said 125 passengers and six crew members had been aboard, but the only person killed was Amar Fernandez de Barreto, 68.

“It was a miracle and we have to give thanks to God,” that only one person died, said Gov. Pedro Gallardo.

The Aires airline said in an e-mail that passengers aboard the plane that left Bogota about midnight included eight U.S. citizens and four Brazilians. They were not identified.

Ninety-nine passengers were taken to the Amor de Patria Hospital on San Andres, said the hospital director, Dr. Robert Sanchez. He said only four suffered major injuries.

“It’s incredible. For the dimension (of the accident), there should be more,” he said.

Sanchez said an initial examination indicated that Fernandez de Barreto may have died of a heart attack.

Barrero, commander of the Caribbean Air Group, said by telephone from San Andres that “the skill of the pilot kept the plane from colliding with the airport.”

He said the cause of the accident was uncertain. “You can’t speculate. Lightning? A gust of wind? The investigation will say.”

Barrero said part of the 7,800-foot (2,380-meter) runway had been closed because parts of the plane were still scattered across it. But enough was usable that air ambulances would be able to land.

Police Gen. Orlando Paez said by telephone that a group of police officers who had been waiting at the airport for the plane to take them back to the Colombian mainland aided in rescuing the victims.

2

Just saw it on the news. . . Amazing!

3

Thankfully no fire! May be part of the reason there are so many survivors. Don’t most airports have cameras trained on the runways these days?

4

New details emerge:

The Boeing 737 carrying 121 passengers and six crew members was arriving on the Caribbean resort island when it crashed short of the runway. Lightning and heavy winds were reported.

“The plane arriving from Bogota landed in the middle of an intense electrical storm,” Colonel Gustavo Barrero of the Colombia Air Force told reporters.

landing short of the runway with no post-crash fire… :confused:

5

I read another story that said there was a fire that was quickly put out.

It appears the plane was new (edit - 2003 according to the msn)…
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c … M5VJ1K.DTL

Transport Minister German Cardona blamed weather conditions and ruled out technical failure as the cause of the crash, according to remarks carried by Caracol Radio.

“It’s a new plane, bought recently,” Cardona said. “It underwent standard maintenance checks eight days ago.”

msn 32416 according to
blog.seattlepi.com/worldairlinen … 218230.asp

6

It was new to the company. the aircraft’s first flight was jan 2003.

7

Yeah, I added that in after I wrote the rest of the post. :slight_smile: Upon further review the msn indicated it rolled off in 2003. Looks like it was with EasyJet and put in storage in January 2010.

There’s a picture taken in March of 2010 of the plane in it’s Aires paint.
flickr.com/photos/40168621@N07/4897409847/

8

I know, I thought the same thing about the lack of a fire, i.e. no fuel, but no official mention of it yet, didn’t see any foam either.

9

Landed on the Caribbean Island at 01:30 surrounded by fierce thunderstorms, aircraft touched down 260 feet short of the runway - ripping off the gear, and sliding 7,400 feet to the end of the runway.

I can’t imagine the sound it must have made, or the sparks flying in total darkness!!!


750×426 44.9 KB


730×502 66.8 KB

10

Like a real live version of the movie Airplane.

“Flight 2-0-9 now arriving gate 8- gate 9, gate 10…”

11

What I was referring to is not for the faint of heart, the following recording if you haven’t heard it before - is the sound captured on the ‘Gun Spotter System’ of East Palo Alto California - catches the crash of a Cessna 310 - N5225J earlier this year.

soundcloud.com/search?q[fulltext]=east+palo+alto+plane+crash

discussions.flightaware.com/view … ght=n5225j

So the B737, having the gear/engine/fuselage ripped off, while sliding almost 1.3 miles, in the dark, with sparks flying everywhere???

Unbelievable survival . . .

12

ROFLMAO :laughing:

This thing had to break apart at the end as it was coming to rest. If it had broken up earlier, the three sections would’ve been resting at various points along the runway. But if it scraped along the runway all that distance, what would’ve caused it to break up so late? And with all of that friction, how could it scrape along so far? Was it just the nose gear that broke off when it hit the runway, and the plane rolled along on the mains?

Survivors report that the plane suddenly plunged to the ground during the approach…

Survivors say everything seemed normal as a jetliner with 131 people on board prepared to land in a storm on a Caribbean resort island. Suddenly it plunged to earth, killing one person - a death toll so low the island’s governor called it a miracle.

STORY

Must’ve been a microburst…

13

And from what I’ve read, the one fatality was actually caused by a heart attack. Understood, considering the ride the deceased was going through at the time. Very, very lucky for (almost) all involved.