- West Caribbean Airways Flight 708
Infobox Airliner accident|name=West Caribbean Airways Flight 708
Date=August 16 2005
Type=Ice accumulation
Site=NearMachiques ,Venezuela
Fatalities=160
Injuries=0
Aircraft Type=McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator=Globe Trotters de Rivière Saléetravel agency
Tail Number=HK-4374X
Passengers=152
Crew=8
Survivors=0West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 was a
West Caribbean Airways charter flight which crashed in a mountainous region in northwestVenezuela on the morning of Tuesday,August 16 ,2005 , killing all 152 passengers and eight crew.The plane, a
McDonnell Douglas MD-82, was en-route fromTocumen International Airport (PTY) inPanama City ,Panama toFort de France ,Martinique (FDF). The pilots reported trouble with one engine while discussing icing and later the other engine as well. They attempted to divert the plane toMaracaibo for an emergencylanding . After a 7,000 feet perminute dive with engines in a flight idle or near flight idle condition, the plane crashed at about 03:45 local time (07:45UTC ) into a field of La Cucharita cattle ranch nearMachiques , in the western state ofZulia ,Venezuela (about 30kilometre s from theColombia n border).Nearly all the passengers were French citizens from
Martinique , with the exception of one Italian, acting as the tour operator. The crew wasColombian . The flight was chartered by the Globe Trotters de Rivière Salée travel agency in Martinique. Most of the passengers were tourists returning from a week's vacation in Panama.Timeline
All times are
UTC . (For local time in Panama, subtract 5 hours; for Venezuela
and Martinique, subtract 4.)
*06:00 Departs from Panama.
*06:51 Reports trouble in one engine.
*06:58 Requests and receives permission to descend from 31,000 feet to 14,000 feet.
*06:59 Sends distress call: both engines malfunctioning, aircraft uncontrollable.
*07:45 Crashes in flames.Airline
:"See main article
West Caribbean Airways "Medellín -based West Caribbean Airways started as a charter service in1998 . It specializes in flights to San Andrés in the Caribbean, parts of the Colombian mainland and Central America. According to the director of Colombia's Civil Aeronautics Board, Col. Carlos Montealegre, the company had been fined many times for violations and several of its airplanes had been grounded for inadequate maintenance. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12400782.htm] One $45,000 penalty cited pilots and other crew flying too many hours, lack of training and failure to log required flight data. The company is said to be facing financial difficulties and is reportedly up for sale. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12400782.htm]West Caribbean Airways lost a Let
L-410 turboprop on26 March ,2005 on takeoff from Providencia Island in an accident that killed 8 people and injured 6.Aside from the downed MD-82, the airline's fleet consists of two McDonnell Douglas MD-81s, three
Aérospatiale ATR 42 s, and six L-410s. [http://www.wca.com.co/aeronaves.php] [http://www.jetphotos.net/census/]Background
The aircraft involved in the incident was delivered to
Continental Airlines onNovember 4 ,1986 which operated it untilJanuary 10 ,2005 . At that time it was transferred to West Caribbean Airways, registered as [http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/McDonnell_Douglas/MD-80/49484.html HK-4374X] . The jet'stail cone fell off in early July 2005 and was replaced.The death toll makes this accident the deadliest of
2005 , and the 50th deadliest crash of all time. It followed the crash ofHelios Airways Flight 522 onAugust 14 inGreece , which killed 121 people. The only other plane crashes in 2005 to kill over 100 people were that ofKam Air Flight 904 onFebruary 3 inAfghanistan (104 deaths), andSosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 onDecember 10 inNigeria (109 deaths). West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 is the 11th crash of anMD-80 with fatalities since the aircraft was brought into service in1980 . It is the deadliest air disaster in the history of Venezuela.Investigation
The "Comite de Investigación de Accidentes Aéreos" (CIAA, Aircraft Accidents Research Committee) of Venezuela led the investigation on the causes of the accident. United States'
NTSB and French BEA also took part. On November the 22nd, 2005, the CIAA released a factual report suggesting that a buildup ofice on the wings inside each engine's PT2-probe, thus the erroneous EPR-indications, was responsible for the accident.Analysis of the
Cockpit voice recorder showed that the crew discussed weather conditions, including icing, and continuously requested and performed descents which is the usual response to a low power or low airspeed situation. Analysis of the debris showed that both engines exhibited indications of high-speed compressor rotation at the time of impact, which enabled investigators to conclude that the engines were not previously damaged, and were functioning at the time of impact. Ground scars showed that the aircraft impacted with its nose up, which is consistent with a buildup of ice on the wings and the body.ee also
*
Deep stall External links
* [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/08/16/venezuela.crash/index.html CNN article]
* [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-16T135009Z_01_MCC641980_RTRUKOC_0_UK-CRASH-VENEZUELA.xml Reuters article]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4156224.stm BBC News article]
* [http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1192401,00.html Sky News article]
* [http://www.aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050816-0 Aviation-Safety.net Accident Description 16 AUG 2005 McDonnell Douglas MD-82 HK-4374X?]
*fr_icon [http://www.lci.fr/news/france/0,,3237868-VU5WX0lEIDUy,00.html LCI: La Martinique durement frappée] (includes phone numbers of information hotlines)
*es icon [http://eltiempo.terra.com.co El Tiempo] has several articles: [http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/naci/2005-08-17/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2186186.html Colombian president call Civil aeronautic authorities] , [http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/naci/2005-08-17/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2186384.html Profile of the crew]
* [http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=817031 Photograph of plane]
* [http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/2005/051122.htm NTSB factual report]
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