LAN Airlines - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• On April 3, 1961, Douglas C-47A CC-CLD crashed into a hillside due to inclement weather. On board were many members of the Chilean association football club C.D. Green Cross. 4 crewmembers and 20 passengers died in the crash.

• On February 6, 1965 a Douglas DC-6, operating as LAN Chile Flight 107 from Santiago to Ezeiza, Argentina at an altitude of about 12,000 ft (3,658 m), flew into a mountain near the San José Volcano in the Las Melosas area of the Andes. All of the 87 passengers and crew on board died in what is as of 2012 the worst aircraft accident in Chile.

• April 28, 1969 LAN Chile Flight 160 crashed short of runway at Colina, Chile. None of the 60 passengers and crew were injured in the accident.

• December 5, 1969, Douglas C-47A CC-CBY crashed on take-off from El Tepual Airport, Puerto Montt. The aircraft was operating a cargo flight, all three people on board survived.

• May 25, 1972, one hour and 18 minutes after take-off from Panama City, a homemade pipe bomb exploded in the ice water fountain service compartment of a Boeing 727. A rapid decompression followed. A successful emergency landing was carried out at Montego Bay, Jamaica.

• August 3, 1978, Buenos Aires/Ezeiza-Ministro Pistarini Airport: a Boeing 707 was approaching runway 11 in fog when it struck trees in a gentle descent, some 2500m short of the runway threshold and 300m out of line with the runway centreline.

• On August 4, 1987, a Boeing 737–200, while on the approach at Calama/El Loa airport, landed short of the displaced threshold of runway 27. The nosegear collapsed and the aircraft broke in two. A fire broke out 30 minutes later and destroyed the aircraft. The threshold was displaced by 880m due to construction work. There was one fatality.

• On February 19, 1991, a chartered LAN Chile BAe 146–200 overran the runway on landing at Puerto Williams in southern Chile and sank in the nearby waters. Twenty of the 66 passengers died.

• On March 28, 2007, LAN Airlines Flight 801 traveling between Santiago and Auckland was involved in a near-miss incident with a meteor while over the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that the flaming object passed within five nautical miles of the aircraft, while the crew could hear the objects breaking the sound barrier. While it was initially thought the object was an old Russian satellite re-entering the atmosphere, that explanation was subsequently ruled out by NASA.

• On July 5, 2008, LAN Airlines Flight 533 was involved in a near-miss incident at New York's JFK airport. The aircraft, bound for Santiago, Chile, was nearly struck after take off by Cayman Airways Flight 792. The Cayman aircraft, arriving at JFK from the Cayman Islands, performed a go-around after a missed approach on a perpendicular runway. Both aircraft performed steep banks to avoid one another, under the control tower's direction.