13 aircraft accidents in Colombia since 2000

The Beechcraft 1900D operated by Searca on behalf of Satena had departed from Cúcuta, Colombia, on a scheduled passenger flight to Ocaña, Colombia. There were 13 passengers and 2 crew members on board. As the aircraft was approaching its destination, it struck mountainous terrain near La Playa de Belén, in the Norte de Santander department. All 15 occupants were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.

The Boeing 727-2J0F cargo operated by Aerosucre Colombia took off from Puerto Carreño, Colombia, for a freight flight to Bogota, Colombia. 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane did not achieved enough altitude after takeoff, then lost height and crashed. 5 occupants were killed, one occupant (a flight technician) survived. The Boeing 727 attempted to take off from Puerto Carreño's runway 24, a 1780 m long runway, but failed to lift off before the runway threshold. The plane overran the runway at high speed clipping the barbed wire fence at the edge of the airport (95 meters away from the runway threshold) in a nose up attitude. Then the plane right wing hit a shed on ground: the right inboard flap was torn off (see photo at the end of this article). The plane finally became airborne and hardly climbed a few hundred a feet. About three minutes later, the plane is seen in a right hand turn losing altitude until it impacted flat terrain about 5 NM (9 km) from the airport, bursting into flames.

The Avro RJ-85 operated by LaMia Bolivia took off from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for a passenger flight to Medellin, Colombia. 68 passengers and 9 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was descending towards Medellin about 20 NM (35 km) southeast of Medellin when it disappeared from radar screen. The wreckage has been located rapidly. 71 occupants were killed, and 6 survived with injuries. The chartered aircraft was coming from southern Brazil. It made a stop in Bolivia before continuing its journey heading to Medellin, Colombia. The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane was enroute at FL300 and started the descent towards Medellin about 80 NM (150 km) south of this city. At this time there were three other aircraft holding, waiting to be instructed start the approach. There was also an aircraft diverting to Medellin airport with a reported fuel leak, about to commence its final approach. The Avro RJ-85 entered a holding pattern to let time to a traffic ahead to land. Then the crew declared a fuel emergency while the plane was in holding pattern, and requested priority landing. Two minutes later, the controller cancelled the approach of the traffic ahead, and requested the Avro RJ-85 to turn right to avoid traffic ahead, and to start the descent. The crew answered negatively for the right turn, stating they have the traffic ahead in sight, and started to descent. 6 minutes after having declared a fuel emergency, all the four engines stopped running. The aircraft was 15.5 NM (28.7 km) south of the threshold the runway, and 5.4 NM (10 km) south of the accident site. Two minutes later, the crew radioed: “Miss, Lima Mike India 2933 is in total failure, total electrical failure and without fuel.”. Moments later, the plane crashed in a wooded area, close to the city of La Ceja at the slopes of Cerro Gordo. The impact point is at altitude of 8,500 ft. The plane came down in one piece. The aircraft has been destroyed by the impact, but some big fuselage parts are visible at the crash site. The plane did not catch fire. Investigators calculated that the plane did not have enough range to perform the flight with holding pattern. Although the crew discussed the possibility to make a stop to refuel at an intermediate point, decision was taken not to do it. The evidence available to the investigation has not identified a technical failure that may have caused or contributed to the accident. The available evidence is however consistent with the aircraft having suffered fuel exhaustion. Players, coaches and invited guests from Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team were onboard the charter flight. So were more than 20 journalists on the way to cover the soccer match in Medellin.

The Boeing 737-73V operated by Aires took off from Bogota, Colombia, for a passenger flight to San Andrés Island, Colombia. 125 passengers and 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crash-landed at San Andrés Island Airport. One passenger died. 119 people were injured (5 of them were seriously injured), and 11 unharmed. Thunderstorms were reported in the vicinity of the Carribean Island when the Boeing 737 was approaching to the San Andrés Island Airport runway 06. At the time of the accident the visibility was reported at 4000 meters (13000 feet), rain and winds around 15 knots. The crew did not report any malfunction of the airplane and no emergency call was radioed prior to impact. The plane touched down short of the runway, the landing gear was torn off on impact, and the Boeing 737 slid onto the runway on its belly as the fuselage fractured. The Boeing 737 broke in three parts. Firefighters quickly doused the beginnings of a fire on a wing. In interviews one of the pilots confirmed the airplane was struck by a lightning just short of the runway. The other did not recall a lightning strike, but a steep uncontrollable descent.

The Boeing 747 freighter took off from Bogota, Colombia, bound for Miami, Florida, USA, with 8 crewmembers onboard. The plane was operated by Michigan-based company Kalitta Airlines as a wet lease to Centurion Air Cargo. The plane crashed minutes after takeoff in a farm field. The Boeing 747 was carrying a cargo of flowers to Miami. Seconds after takeoff, the Boeing 747-200 of Kalitta suffered the failure of both outer engines, after it took off from runway 31R. All was absolutely normal until after rotation, then engine number 4 (outer right engine) failed. The crew initiated the "special engine out procedure", that had been briefed and set up in the FMS fix page. Before the checklists could be worked or the airplane could turn back to the airport, engine number one (outer left engine) failed, too. The crew quickly recognized, they didn't have the thrust anymore necessary to get back to the airport and attempted an off airport landing. When hitting the ground, the plane broke up and caught fire. Witnesses on the ground watched the airplane as it descended. The witnesses reported, that they saw a growing fire on the left hand wing of the airplane. They could not tell, whether it was engine #1 or #2 though. Three people on ground died when the plane struck the farm house where they were living. The plane's eight crew members survived the crash and were taken to a hospital. Four of them were seriously injured.

The Let 410 departed Villavicencio, Colombia, at 15:19 on a domestic flight to Uribe, Colombia, where it was scheduled to arrive 31 minutes later. The plane disappeared from radar screens over the province of Cordillera Oriental. It never arrived and was declared missing. The wreckage was spotted on a mountain after a three-day search that included two helicopters and two Colombian Air Force fixed-wing aircraft. The plane crashed in a remote area at an elevation of 2400 m, where there were concerns that Marxist insurgents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could have been operating. None of the 15 Colombian soldiers and three crewmembers survived. Poor visibility was reported as a possible factor in the crash of the Czech-made LET-410, a two-engine propeller aircraft.

The Boeing 727 belonging to Aerosucre was on a cargo flight from Bogota, Colombia, to Leticia, Colombia. The plane crashed as it approached Leticia airport in Colombia's Amazon region, killing the three crew members and two passengers. The airplane was on a visual approach when it stroke a 150-foot television antenna about 2 miles (3 km) from the airport. Clouds and patches of fog prevailed at the time of the accident, and may have led to crew to drop down too low. The airplane was destroyed following subsequent impact with terrain.

The aircraft was on a cargo flight from Miami (USA) to Bogota (Columbia). During landing at Bogota, the plane overran the runway. The weather was rainy. The DC-10 reportedly hit a pothole on the runway, began to skid, and came to rest in a field off the runway threshold, suffering substantial damage. There is no fatality.

The aircraft, on a cargo flight from El Yopal to Mitú, failed to arrive at its destination, and three hours later was declared missing. The DC-9 freighter has yet to be located, and the three crewmembers aboard are presumed killed.

The aircraft was departing Popayán's Guillermo Leon Valencia Airport when it immediately nosed down and crashed. The aircraft was departing for the return leg of a flight, which had carried 50 prisoners to Popayán. 3 out of 8 crew members were killed.

TAME flight 120 departed Quito 10:03am on the first leg of its scheduled Quito-Tulcán-Cali (Colombia) flight. Radio contact with the aircraft was lost at 10:23am as it approached Tulcán. The aircraft crashed near the Colombian city of Ipiales, approximately 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Tulcán, in a crater near the top of the 15,626ft Cumbal Volcano. The wreckage of the aircraft was found by aerial search some 24 hours after the accident. There was no survivor. The weather in the heavily mountainous region was reported to be foggy around the time of the accident.

The aircraft departed Quito, Ecuador for a short passenger flight to Lago Agrio. The aircraft disappeared from radar screens and its wreckage was found three days later during an aerial search. All the passengers and crew members were killed in the accident.

The Curtiss C-46 operating in Colombia had just taken off when an engine problem was reported. The crew attempted to return to the airport for an emergency landing.