Avianca - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

The airline suffered a few incidents during the 1980s and early 1990s. The deadliest of those incidents was Avianca Flight 203, which was bombed in 1989, following orders from Pablo Escobar to kill presidential candidate César Gaviria Trujillo. In the aftermath, it was found that Gaviria had not boarded the aircraft. Only one successful bombing has occurred in the airline's history, while most other gang related incidents were related to hijackings or shootings on board. In most hijackings, all passengers and crew members, unaffiliated with the hijacker's cause, were immediately released.

Other incidents include:

• On 9 August 1954, a Avianca Lockheed Constellation crashed three minutes after take off from Lajes Field, Azores flew left into the hills instead of right towards the sea killing all 30 on board.
• On 21 January 1960, Avianca Flight 671, a Lockheed L-1049E, crashed and burned on landing at Montego Bay International Airport in Jamaica, killing 37 aboard.
• On 15 January 1966, Avianca Flight 4 crashed shortly after takeoff from Cartagena-Crespo. The cause was determined as maintenance problems, possibly compounded by pilot error.
• On 21 May 1970, a Douglas DC-3 of Avianca was hijacked to Yariguíes Airport, Barrancabermeja whilst on a flight from El Alcaraván Airport, Yopal to Alberto Lleras Carmargo Airport, Sogamoso. The hijackers had demanded to be taken to Cuba.
• On 29 July 1972, Douglas C-53s HK-107 and HK-1341 were involved in a mid-air collision over the Las Palomas Mountains. Both aircraft crashed, killing 21 people on HK-107 and 17 people on HK-1341. Both aircraft were operating domestic scheduled passenger flights from La Vanguardia Airport, Villavicencio to El Yopal Airport.
• On 22 August 1973, Douglas DC-3A HK-111 crashed into a hill near Casanare, Colombia, killing 16 of the 17 people on board. The aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled passenger flight from La Vanguardia Airport, Villavicencio to El Alcaraván Airport, Yopal.
• On 12 August 1974, Douglas C-47 HK-508 flew into Trujillo Mountain killing all 27 people on board. The aircraft was on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from El Dorado Airport, Bogotá to La Florida Airport, Tumaco.
• On November 27, 1983 Avianca Flight 011, a Boeing 747-200 that crashed onto a mountain, just short of landing at Barajas Airport in Madrid, in November 1983 had 181 fatalities. The cause was determined to be pilot error.
• On 17 March 1988, Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727 domestic flight, crashed into low mountains near Cúcuta - Norte de Santander, Colombia, after take-off, killing all 143 on board. It was determined that pilot error was also the cause of this crash, in a situation similar to that of Avianca Flight 011, five years earlier.
• On 25 January 1990, Avianca Flight 52, a Boeing 707-320 jet en route from Bogotá to New York City via Medellín, crashed in the town of Cove Neck, New York, after running out of fuel while in a holding pattern, awaiting landing at New York's Kennedy Airport, killing 73 of the 158 people aboard. There was much controversy surrounding this crash.
• On 26 April 1990, 19th of April Movement presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro was gunned down during a domestic Avianca flight.
• On 12 April 1999, Avianca Flight 9463, a Fokker 50 en route from Bogotà to Bucaramanga was hijacked by 6 ELN members and forced the plane to make an emergency landing on a clandestine runway in the Bolivar region. Only one passenger died during captivity, the rest were eventually liberated a year after the hijack.