| LAC Colombia Flight 028 | |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Date: | February 4, 1996 |
| Summary: | Loss of control and stall caused by pilot error |
| Site: | Mariano Roque Alonso, near Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, Luque, Paraguay |
| Total Survivors: | 0 |
| Total Fatalities: | 22 |
| Total Injuries: | 2 |
| Ground Fatalities: | 18 |
| Ground Injuries: | 2 |
| Aircraft Type: | Douglas DC-8-55CF |
| Operator: | LAC Colombia |
| Iata: | LC028 |
| Icao: | LCI028 |
| Callsign: | LAC 028 |
| Tail Number: | HK-3979 |
| Origin: | Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, Luque, Paraguay |
| Destination: | Campinas International Airport |
| Occupants: | 4 |
| Passengers: | 1 |
| Crew: | 3 |
| Fatalities: | 4 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
LAC Colombia Flight 028 was a scheduled cargo flight that took off from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Luque, Paraguay and was bound for Campinas International Airport in Campinas, Brazil. The plane crash, also known as the LAC Paraguay air disaster, has been considered the worst plane crash in Paraguay.[1] The crash was caused by the pilot improperly ceding control to the co-pilot shortly after takeoff, then turning off two of the engines to hinder operation of the plane by the co-pilot.
On February 4, 1996, at 14:12 local time, the plane, a 29-year-old Douglas DC-8 of the now-defunct Colombian airline Líneas Aéreas del Caribe (LAC) stalled and crashed in a neighborhood in the district of Mariano Roque Alonso, about 10km (10miles) north of Paraguay's capital Asunción, a few minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 22 people: the 4 crew members, along with 18 people on the ground, mostly children who were playing on a soccer field. There were also several injuries and damage to several houses in the surrounding area.
At the time of the crash, the weather was reported as good, and visibility was optimal. The aircraft was also in excellent technical condition while carrying adequate fuel. The aircraft took off around 2:30 p.m. from Luque Airport, bound for Campinas.[2]
A few minutes after takeoff, the pilot gave control of the plane to his co-pilot, a novice, and began to test the engines. One of the left engines was first turned off, causing the aircraft to bank. Another engine was then turned off at 500 feet. The co-pilot was heard asking the other pilots to stop joking "that way", as the co-pilot retook control of the plane and attempted to climb with two engines turned off.
Subsequently, two carburetion explosions were heard, indicating that the aircraft was forced to climb so that no air could enter the other engines, meaning that the engines could not operate at full power. When they tried to reactivate the two engines, the pilots did not react in time, given that the aircraft had not yet gained much altitude.[3]
The plane fell to the ground, crashing into a playing field around 2 kilometers (1¼ miles) from the end of the runway in the Mariano Roque Alonso district a few minutes after takeoff. The four Colombian crew members died instantly after the crash, along with 18 other people who died on the ground, 13 of whom were children playing soccer in the playing field in which the plane had crashed. The crash severely damaged the airline's reputation and finances, leading to the airline ending operations later that year.
The investigation was carried out by the aeronautical authorities of Colombia, Paraguay and the United States. After investigators analyzed the tapes of the two flight recorders that recorded the crew's conversations and movements of the plane in the last minutes of the flight, they concluded that the accident was due to human error by the pilots.
The main error occurred when the pilot improperly gave control of the plane to the co-pilot, a prohibited procedure that made the aircraft operation difficult for the co-pilot. Both the pilots and the flight engineer had reportedly expressed excessive confidence about the conditions of the surrounding environment.