Avianca Flight 011 was a Boeing 747-200BM Combi on an

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

scheduled

passenger flight An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

from

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

via

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

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 Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

flight due to a cancellation of the Paris-Frankfurt-Paris segment by Avianca for operational reasons. During the instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 33, the 747 crashed on a hill approximately 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. The cause of the accident was judged to be

pilot error In aviation, pilot error generally refers to an action or decision made by a Aircraft pilot#Airline, pilot that is a substantial contributing factor leading to an Aviation accidents and incidents, aviation accident. It also includes a pilot ...

, the captain having incorrectly determined the position of the plane. As of 2025, Avianca Flight 011 remains the second-deadliest aviation accident in Spanish territory (the deadliest being the

Tenerife airport disaster The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on 27 March 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport) on the Spa ...

), the deadliest accident in mainland Spain, the deadliest crash involving a single aircraft in Spain and the deadliest accident in the history of Avianca.

Background

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-200BM Combi that first flew in 1977 and was delivered to

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the same year. The aircraft was

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

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. The aircraft was powered by four General Electric CF-6 high bypass turbofan engines and was 6.3 years old at the time of the accident. The

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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. The

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referr ...

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.

Accident

It was nighttime at the time of the accident, the

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conditions just before the crash consisted of a visibility of , and the wind was calm. 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 controller An Air traffic controller (ATC) is a person responsible for the coordination of traffic in their assigned airspace. Typically stationed in area control centers or control towers, they monitor the position, speed, and altitude of aircraft and c ...

s had taken place at 23:31. 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. The accident took place in the township of

Mejorada del Campo Mejorada del Campo is a municipality of Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. History Mejorada del Campo is first mentioned in a 1247 document, as one of the several places belonging to the personal lordship of the Bishops of Segovia sou ...

, approximately 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 a final impact on the third hill. 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. 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. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and ensuing fire. The airplane was equipped with a

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and a

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, both of which were recovered on the day of the accident in good condition.

Investigation

The crash was investigated by the Spanish

Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission The Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (, CIAIAC) is the Spanish national agency responsible for air accident investigation. It is a division of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. The CIAIAC investigates all a ...

(CIAIAC). 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. 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.

Notable people killed

Victims include several notable people invited to the Colombian Government's ''First meeting on Hispanoamerican culture'' (). Other notable victims were named in the ''New York Times''. *

Jorge Ibargüengoitia Jorge Ibargüengoitia Antillón (January 22, 1928 – November 27, 1983) was a Mexican novelist and playwright who achieved great popular and critical success with his satires, three of which have appeared in English: ''The Dead Girls'', ''T ...

– Mexican novelist *

Ángel Rama Ángel A. Rama (; April 30, 1926November 27, 1983) was a Uruguayan writer, academic, and literary critic, known for his work on ''modernismo'' and for his theorization of the concept of "transculturation." Biography Born in Montevideo to Galician ...

– Uruguayan writer, academic, and literary critic *

Rosa Sabater Rosa Sabater i Parera (, ; Barcelona, Spain, 29 August 1929 – Mejorada del Campo, Spain, 27 November 1983) was a Spanish pianist. She was a pupil of Frank Marshall (pianist), Frank Marshall (1883-1959), who headed the Academia Marshall in Barcel ...

– Spanish pianist *

Manuel Scorza Manuel Scorza (September 9, 1928November 27, 1983) was an important Peruvian novelist, poet, and political activist, exiled under the regime of Manuel Odría. He was born in Lima. Life and career Scorza was a member of a student group affiliated ...

– Peruvian novelist, poet, and political activist *

Marta Traba Marta Traba Taín (Buenos Aires, 25 January 1930 – Madrid, 27 November 1983) was an art critic and writer known for her contributions to Latin American art and literature. Biography Traba's parents were Catalan immigrants, Francisco Traba ...

– Argentine writer and art critic (Angel Rama was her husband) * Ana Sixta Gonzalez de Cuadros – Colombian senator * John Buckle – General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-13/john_buckle.htm

Notes

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