| Avianca Flight 011 | |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error, navigational error, and ATC error |
| Site: | Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid Barajas International Airport Madrid, Spain |
| Aircraft Type: | Boeing 747-283BM Combi |
| Tail Number: | HK-2910X |
| Operator: | Avianca |
| Iata: | AV011 |
| Icao: | AVA011 |
| Callsign: | AVIANCA 011 |
| Origin: | Frankfurt Airport West Germany |
| Stopover0: | Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris, France |
| Stopover1: | Madrid Barajas International Airport Madrid, Spain |
| Last Stopover: | Simón Bolívar Int'l Airport Caracas, Venezuela |
| Destination: | El Dorado International Airport Bogotá, Colombia |
| Occupants: | 192 |
| Passengers: | 169 |
| Crew: | 23 |
| Fatalities: | 181 |
| Injuries: | 11 |
| Survivors: | 11 |
Avianca Flight 011, registration HK-2910X,[1] was a Boeing 747-200BM Combi on an international scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt to Bogotá via Paris, Madrid, and Caracas that crashed near Madrid on 27 November 1983. It took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 22:25 on 26 November 1983 for Madrid Barajas Airport; take-off was delayed waiting for additional passengers from a Lufthansa flight due to a cancellation of the Paris-Frankfurt-Paris segment by Avianca for operational reasons.[2] [3]
During the instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 33, the 747 crashed on a hill approximately 7.5order=flipNaNorder=flip south east of the airport, killing 181 people, including 19 on-duty and four off-duty crew members. The 11 surviving passengers were seriously injured.[4] The cause of the accident was judged to be pilot error, the captain having incorrectly determined the position of the plane.[1] As of 2024, Avianca Flight 011 remains the second-deadliest aviation accident in Spanish territory (the deadliest being the Tenerife airport disaster), the deadliest accident in mainland Spain, and the deadliest accident in the history of Avianca.[5]
The aircraft was a Boeing 747-200BM Combi that first flew in 1977 and was delivered to Scandinavian Airlines System the same year. The aircraft was registered as LN-RNA and was named Magnus Viking. It was leased to Avianca in 1982 and re-registered as HK-2910X. The aircraft was nicknamed Olafo by the airline's employees.[6] The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-70A turbofan engines and was 6.3 years old at the time of the accident.[7] [8]
The captain was 58-year-old Tulio Hernández, who was one of Avianca's most experienced pilots, having been with the airline for 32 years. He had logged a total of 23,215 flight hours, including 2,432 hours on the Boeing 747.
The first officer was 36-year-old Eduardo Ramírez, who had been with the airline for 10 years and had 4,384 flight hours, with 875 of them on the Boeing 747.[9]
The flight engineer was 57-year-old Juan Laverde, another one of Avianca's veteran pilots, who had been with the airline for 25 years and had 15,942 flight hours. He was the most experienced on the Boeing 747, having logged 3,676 hours on it. There were also two relief flight engineers on board: Daniel Zota and Julio Florez Camacho.[10]
It was nighttime at the time of the accident, the meteorological conditions just before the crash consisted of a visibility of 5order=flipNaNorder=flip, and the wind was calm.[3] About 20 minutes prior to the impact, the aircraft had obtained meteorological information on the weather conditions at Barajas from Avianca. The first contact with Spanish air traffic controllers had taken place at 23:31.[2] At 00:03 the aircraft contacted Barajas again, and was cleared to land on runway 33; this was the air traffic controller's last contact with the aircraft.[2] The accident took place in the township of Mejorada del Campo, approximately 7.5order=flipNaNorder=flip southeast of the Madrid Airport. The time of the accident was approximately 00:06 on 27 November. The plane hit three different hills on its way down during the crash, with the third hill being the final impact. The debris of the airplane was widely scattered as a consequence of the impacts. The crash killed 158 passengers, 19 crew members, and four off-duty crew members. Miraculously, 11 passengers (6 women and 5 men) survived, but were seriously injured.[11] Of the injured, nine were ejected from the airplane, a few of them still in their seats, and two claimed to have exited the aircraft by themselves.[2] [12] The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and ensuing fire.[2] The airplane was equipped with a digital flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, both of which were recovered on the day of the accident in good condition.[2]
The crash was investigated by the Spanish Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC).[1]
There was no evidence of any anomalies in Paris prior to this flight. The crew had stayed in the city 72 hours after arriving on flight AV010 on the first day, 24 November 1983.[2] The investigation also determined that the pilot-in-command and crew were properly licensed and qualified, as were the air traffic controllers. The aircraft carried a valid certificate of airworthiness, as well as a registration and maintenance certificate. The airplane was maintained in accordance with the prescribed maintenance program, and the navigation and approach aids were checked and found to be functioning correctly. In addition, there was no record of malfunctions in the controllers' communications or radar equipment, and no evidence was discovered of defects in the aircraft engines or systems.[2] [13]
As of 2024, Avianca still operates Flight 011, now as a daily non-stop flight from Madrid to Bogota, using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.[14]
Victims include several notable people invited to the Colombian Government's First meeting on Hispanoamerican culture .[15] Other notable victims were named in the New York Times.[5]