Dominicana DC-9 air disaster

Dominicana de Aviación DC-9

Accident summary
Date	February 15, 1970
Type	Mechanical failure
Site	Punta Caucedo near Santo Domingo
Crew	5
Injuries	0
Fatalities	102 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	DC-9
Operator	Dominicana de Aviación
Tail number	HI-177
Flight origin	Las Américas International Airport
Destination	Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

The Dominicana de Aviación Santo Domingo DC-9 air disaster occurred on February 15, 1970 when a Dominicana de Aviación (Dominican Airlines) McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 twin-engine jet airliner crashed on takeoff from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The aircraft used for the Dominicana flight to San Juan was almost brand new, having been delivered to the airline from the McDonnell Douglas factory in 1969. The plane's registration was HI-177, but there are no data concerning the flight's number.

The jetliner was on what would have been a brief international flight lasting 45 minutes from Las Américas International Airport in Punta Caucedo, near Santo Domingo, to San Juan, Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

The flight took off at about 6:30 p.m. Two minutes after departure, over water, it lost power on the number 2 (right) engine. The pilots tried to turn around, asking the Las Americas Airport control tower for clearance for an emergency landing, but, during the turn, the number 1 (left) engine also lost power, and, because the aircraft was in a turning motion when the left engine failed, the jet plunged into the sea, in what has been the only jet airliner tragedy to date for either Las Americas or Luis Muñoz Marín International Airports.

All 97 passengers and five crew members died in the crash, for a total of 102 deaths.^[1]

Investigation

The investigation showed that the airliner had been the victim of fuel contamination, causing both engines to fail. The jet fuel used to fill the airliner's tanks had been contaminated, leading to the engine stoppage.

Notable victims

Several famous passengers were among the dead, including former world boxing champion Carlos Cruz, his wife and nineteen-month-old son, who were flying to San Juan for a rematch against Carlos Ortiz; the wife, daughter and sister of Imbert Barreras, a Dominican Army Brigade General who participated in the plot to kill the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina in Santo Domingo, on May 30 of 1961; Juan Ramón Loubriel, who had participated in three professional sports leagues in Puerto Rico (basketball, volleyball and association football); the then-girlfriend of astrologer Walter Mercado, and most of the members of Puerto Rico's women's national volleyball team, who were returning home after a friendly game against the Dominican Republic's women's national team. The few Puerto Rican volleyball players who could not be accommodated in this flight remember how they heard news about the crash on television and received the news with tears.

Puerto Rican Salsa orchestra El Gran Combo was set to board this flight but didn't when one of their members had a bad feeling about the flight and convinced the others not to take it.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
• Air safety
• Fuel starvation

References

1. ^ D. Gero (2005-05-21). "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 HI-177 Santo Domingo". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700215-0. Retrieved 2008-11-23. 

External links

• Fatal McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Events
• Major Aviation Accidents of the Super70s