Aviaco Flight 118
1973 plane crash in Spain
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Aviaco Flight 118 was a Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle operated by Aviaco that crashed in the village of Montrove, Spain on 13 August 1973, while attempting to land at Alvedro Airport in heavy fog.[1] The aircraft crashed into an abandoned farmhouse approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi; 1.1 nmi) from the airport. All 85 persons on board perished in the crash and subsequent fire. One person in the village also died.[2]
Flight 118 was a seasonal daily flight from Madrid to A Coruña favoured by tourists.[3] Local news reports indicated that AO118 was a special "vacation flight" run by Aviaco during the summer season, so as to provide easy access to Galicia's numerous ocean-side resorts.[3]
The aircraft had taken off normally from Madrid at 9:14 a.m. CEST. After an uneventful journey, the commander contacted the control tower at La Coruña Airport at 10:14, and was informed of the poor visibility in the area at that time. Despite being advised to stand by in anticipation of an early improvement in weather conditions, the crew began a first approach at 10:23 to check the actual visibility. The manoeuvre was frustrated, and the aircraft returned to an altitude of 2000 metres.
After a second unsuccessful approach, at 11:20 the tower warned Flight 118 that the fog was lifting, and that the horizontal visibility had increased to about 1500 meters and the vertical visibility was close to 300 meters. At 11:39, the crew reported that they had begun a new approach, this being the last communication received by the airport control tower. Shortly afterwards the aircraft hit eucalyptus trees, struck the ground and collided with the abandoned farmhouse before bursting into flames.
The collision and fire killed 84 of the aircraft's 85 occupants immediately. The only survivor, who was taken to the Hospital in La Coruña, died a few hours later as a result of the serious injuries suffered. In addition, one person on the ground was reported to have been killed.
The official cause of the accident was the pilot's violation of air safety rules by landing in poor visibility. This fact was considered even more serious considering that at Santiago de Compostela Airport the visibility was good at the time of the accident, and being only 45 km away.[4]
References
- ^ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 22 October 2009.
- ^ "No ha habido supervivientes en el accidente aereo de La Coruña" [There have been no survivors in the air accident in La Coruña.]. ABC (Spain) (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 14 August 1973. p. 11.
- ^ a b "Jet Crashes in Spain" (PDF). Ruston Daily Leader. Ruston, Louisiana. UPI. 13 August 1973. p. 1. Transcript.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10R EC-BIC La Coruña Airport (LCG)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
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Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain
- Hubert Le Blon (April 1910)
- Aviaco SNCASE Languedoc crash (December 1958)
- Transair Douglas Dakota accident (August 1959)
- Iberia Flight 401 (May 1965)
- Dan-Air Flight 1903 (July 1970)
- Iberia Flight 602 (January 1972)
- Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 (September 1972)
- Spantax Flight 275 (December 1972)
- Aviaco Flight 118 (August 1973)
- Imperial Iranian Air Force Flight 48 (May 1976)
- Tenerife airport disaster (March 1977)
- Dan-Air Flight 1008 (April 1980)
- Spantax Flight 995 (September 1982)
- Avianca Flight 011 (November 1983)
- Madrid runway disaster (December 1983)
- Iberia Flight 610 (February 1985)
- Britannia Airways Flight 226A (September 1999)
- Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261 (August 2001)
- Flightline Flight 101 (October 2001)
- Spanair Flight 5022 (August 2008)
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