Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109

1991 aviation accident in Venezuela

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Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109
Accident
An Aeropostal McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 similar to the one involved.
Date	March 5, 1991 (1991-03-05)
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Near La Valesa, Venezuela
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
Operator	Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela
Registration	YV-23C
Flight origin	La Chinita International Airport, Maracaibo, Venezuela
Destination	Santa Barbara Ed-L Delicias Airport, Venezuela
Occupants	45
Passengers	40
Crew	5
Fatalities	45
Survivors	0

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 was a short-haul flight from La Chinita International Airport in Maracaibo, Venezuela to Santa Barbara Ed-L Delicias Airport that crashed on March 5, 1991.

Aircraft

The aircraft used on Flight 109 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, which has been in service with Aeropostal for 14 years; the aircraft had been manufactured in 1976.

The "Guillotine of Los Andes"

The Páramo "Los Torres" is known among Venezuelan pilots as The Guillotine ("Russian roulette") of the Andes. In a literal sense, it is a steep, usually foggy mountain that pilots had trouble avoiding before proper ground proximity warning systems were installed in planes. Prior to Flight 109, two other commercial aircraft had crashed near "The Guillotine". On December 15, 1950, an Avensa Douglas DC-3 flying from Mérida to Caracas crashed, killing all 28 passengers and 3 crew. Ten years later, on December 15, 1960, a Ransa flight crashed, killing all of its passengers.

Accident

Flight 109 took off from La Chinita International Airport with 45 passengers and crew. Several minutes later, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashed on the side of a foggy mountain near "The Guillotine" near La Valesa in the La Aguada sector of the Páramo Los Torres and burst into flames. All 45 people on board died.

Cause

An investigation into the accident found that the cause of the crash was pilot error. The pilots inadvertently entered the wrong radial into their navigation system and went off course. Because of fog in the area, the pilots did not know they were on a collision course with the mountain.

References

"Historias de la Violencia. Muerte en el Páramo" [Stories of Violence: Death in the Moorlands]. El Universal (in Spanish). 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
Suensverg, Nunziatina Maugeri (2023-03-05). "Se cumplen 32 años de la tragedia del vuelo 109 de Aeropostal" [32 years since the tragedy of Aeropostal flight 109]. Noticia al Dia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-30.
^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 YV-23C Valera". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
Zabala, Ángel Mendoza (2016-03-05). ""Cadena de errores 'tumbó' el avión de Aeropostal": experto aeronáutico" ["Chain of errors 'knocked down' the Aeropostal plane": aeronautical expert]. panorama.com.ve (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
Bravo, Luis (2016-03-05). "Hace 25 años se estrelló vuelo 108 de Aeropostal en páramo Los Torres (fotos)" [25 years ago Aeropostal flight 108 crashed in Los Torres páramo (photos)]. panorama.com.ve (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
"Crash of a Douglas DC-9-32 on Mt La Aguada: 45 killed". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-300 YV1449 Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2021-03-28.

External links

McDonnell Douglas DC-9 family

Civil/Commercial

DC-9
- -80/81/82/83/87/88

Boeing 717

Military

Accidents and
incidents

DC-9	West Coast Airlines Flight 956 (1966) TWA Flight 553 (1967) Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 (1968) Ozark Air Lines Flight 982 (1968) Viasa Flight 742 (1969) Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 (1969) 1970 Dominicana air disaster Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 (1970) ALM Flight 980 (1970) Southern Airways Flight 932 (1970) Hughes Airwest Flight 706 (1971) 1972 Turkish Airlines Adana crash JAT Flight 367 (1972) EgyptAir Flight 763 (1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 (1972) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 (1972) Southern Airways Flight 49 (1972) 1972 Chicago–O'Hare runway collision 1973 Nantes mid-air collision Aeroméxico Flight 229 (1973) Delta Air Lines Flight 723 (1973) Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 (1974) Avensa Flight 358 (1974) Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450 (1975) 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision Southern Airways Flight 242 (1977) Air Canada Flight 189 (1978) TWA Flight 541 (1978) Alitalia Flight 4128 (1978) Itavia Flight 870 (1980) Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 206 (1981) Aeroméxico Flight 230 (1981) Aeroméxico Flight 110 (1981) Avensa Flight 007 (1983) Air Canada Flight 797 (1983) 1983 Madrid runway disaster Ozark Air Lines Flight 650 (1983) Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 (1985) Aeroméxico Flight 498 (1986) Garuda Indonesia Flight 035 (1987) Continental Airlines Flight 1713 (1987) Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17 (1988) Alitalia Flight 404 (1990) 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision Ryan International Airlines Flight 590 (1991) Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 (1991) Japan Air System Flight 451 (1993) USAir Flight 1016 (1994) Intercontinental de Aviación Flight 256 (1995) ValuJet Flight 592 (1996) Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 (1997) Cebu Pacific Flight 387 (1998) TAESA Flight 725 (1999) Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 (2005) 2006 Mexico drug bust Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122 (2008)
MD-80	Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 (1981) Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (1987) Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046 (1988) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751 (1991) China Eastern Airlines Flight 5398 (1993) China Northern Airlines Flight 6901 (1993) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 347 (1994) TWA Flight 427 (1994) American Airlines Flight 1572 (1995) Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 (1996) Korean Air Flight 1533 (1999) American Airlines Flight 1420 (1999) Alaska Airlines Flight 261 (2000) 2001 Linate Airport disaster China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 (2002) Lion Air Flight 538 (2004) West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 (2005) One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 (2007) Atlasjet Flight 4203 (2007) Spanair Flight 5022 (2008) Dana Air Flight 0992 (2012) Air Algérie Flight 5017 (2014) Delta Air Lines Flight 1086 (2015) Ameristar Charters Flight 9363 (2017) Caspian Airlines Flight 6936 (2020) 2021 Houston MD-87 crash RED Air Flight 203 (2022)
MD-90	Uni Air Flight 873 (1999)

Topics

Operators
- MD-80
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- Boeing 717

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1991 (1991)
Feb 1 Los Angeles Airport runway collisionFeb 17 Ryan International Airlines Flight 590Feb 20 LAN-Chile Flight 1069Mar 3 United Airlines Flight 585Mar 5 Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109Mar 26 Singapore Airlines Flight 117Apr 4 Merion mid-air collisionApr 5 Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311May 23 Aeroflot Flight 8556May 26 Lauda Air Flight 004Jul 10 L'Express Airlines Flight 508Jul 11 Nigeria Airways Flight 2120Aug 16 Indian Airlines Flight 257Sep 11 Continental Express Flight 2574Oct 5 Jakarta Indonesian Air Force C-130 crashOct 25 Vallejo helicopter crashOct 29 RAAF Boeing 707 crashNov 7 Yugavia Flight S-519Nov 20 Azerbaijani helicopter shootdownDec 27 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751Dec 29 China Airlines Flight 358
1990 ◄ ► 1992

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1991 (1991)

Feb 1 Los Angeles Airport runway collisionFeb 17 Ryan International Airlines Flight 590Feb 20 LAN-Chile Flight 1069Mar 3 United Airlines Flight 585Mar 5 Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109Mar 26 Singapore Airlines Flight 117Apr 4 Merion mid-air collisionApr 5 Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311May 23 Aeroflot Flight 8556May 26 Lauda Air Flight 004Jul 10 L'Express Airlines Flight 508Jul 11 Nigeria Airways Flight 2120Aug 16 Indian Airlines Flight 257Sep 11 Continental Express Flight 2574Oct 5 Jakarta Indonesian Air Force C-130 crashOct 25 Vallejo helicopter crashOct 29 RAAF Boeing 707 crashNov 7 Yugavia Flight S-519Nov 20 Azerbaijani helicopter shootdownDec 27 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751Dec 29 China Airlines Flight 358

1990 ◄ ► 1992

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Venezuela
1950s	Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 (November 1956)
1960s	Avensa Fairchild F-27 accident (February 1962) Pan Am Flight 217 (December 1968) Viasa Flight 742 (March 1969) Air France Flight 212 (December 1969)
1970s	Avensa Flight 358 (December 1974) Punta Mulatos Linea Aeropostal Venezolana HS-748 crash (March 1978)
1980s	Latin Carga Convair CV-880 crash (November 1980) Avensa Flight 007 (March 1983)
1990s	Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 (March 1991) Cubana de Aviación Flight 310 (December 1999)
2000s	West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 (August 2005) Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (February 2008)
2010s	Conviasa Flight 2350 (September 2010)

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