| Atacazo | |
| Elevation M: | 4463 |
| Location: | Ecuador |
| Range: | Andes |
| Map: | Ecuador |
| Relief: | 1 |
| Map Size: | 250 |
| Label Position: | right |
| Coordinates: | -0.3528°N -78.6169°W |
| Type: | Stratovolcano |
| Last Eruption: | 320 BCE ± 16 years |
Atacazo is a volcano of the Western Cordillera located 25 kilometers southwest of Quito, Ecuador. Atacazo is a stratovolcano formed by the action of a Late-Pleistocene to Holocene caldera.[1] The last eruption of the Atacazo was nearly 2300 years ago.
On November 7, 1960 a Fairchild F-27 turboprop passenger plane, operated by the now-defunct national airline AREA Ecuador, struck the Atacazo in bad weather during its approach to the newly-inaugurated Mariscal Sucre International Airport after a flight from Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Guayaquil.[2] [3] The crash, 16km (10miles) south of Quito and 150 meters to the summit of the Atacazo, killed all the 37 occupants of the plane.[4] At the time, it was the worst aerial crash in the history of Ecuador, the first and worst fatal loss of an F-27 passenger plane, and the first accident involving the then-recently-opened Quito airport.[5] [6]