SAM Colombia Flight 501 was a Boeing 727-46 that crashed on 19 May 1993, killing all 132 on board. The aircraft collided with a mountain while on approach to Medellín, Colombia.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-46, registered as HK-2422X (factory no. 18876, serial no. 217), which was built in 1965 and had its maiden flight on December 30 of that year. The aircraft was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A

turbofan engine A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the additional fan stag ...

s. The aircraft was delivered to

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

on January 7, 1966, and was registered as JA8309. On November 16, 1972, the airliner was leased to

Korean Air Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (KAL; ) is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations, and international flights. It is owned by the Hanjin, Hanjin Group. The present-day Korean Air tra ...

, where it was re-registered as HL7309. On November 9, 1980, Korean Air sold the aircraft to

SAM Colombia SAM (Spanish language, Spanish acronym: ''Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín'') was a Colombian airline. With its main hub at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, SAM operated domestic and international routes and was a subsidiary of Avian ...

, where it was re-registered as HK-2422X. The captain was 31-year-old Mauricio Oswaldo Vacca Mejía, qualified in May 1992 as a Boeing 727 commander, he had clocked a total of 3,943 flying hours. His first officer, 29-year-old Julio César Andrade Granados, had a total of 1,651 flying hours, and worked as a flight engineer prior to qualifying as a co-pilot in February 1993. And 45-year-old Flight Engineer Jaime Eduardo Martínez Basallo had a total of 553 hours with SAM Colombia ever since he was employed in mid-1992.

Accident

At 14:18, Flight 501 took off from Panama City, Panama, bound for Bogotá, Colombia, with a stopover in Medellín. The aircraft climbed to

flight level In aviation, a flight level (FL) is an aircraft's altitude as determined by a pressure altimeter using the International Standard Atmosphere. It is expressed in hundreds of feet or metres. The altimeter setting used is the ISA sea level pressur ...

160 (about ). On board were 7 crew members and 125 passengers, including several Panamanian dentists on their way to a convention.

Thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

activity in the area made

automatic direction finder An automatic direction finder (ADF) is a marine or aircraft Radio navigation, radio-navigation instrument that automatically and continuously displays the relative bearing from the ship or aircraft to a suitable radio station. ADF receivers are n ...

(ADF) navigation more difficult, and the Medellín

VOR/DME In radio navigation, a VOR/DME is a radio beacon that combines a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) with a distance-measuring equipment (DME). The VOR allows the receiver to measure its bearing to or from the beacon, while the DME provides the sla ...

was unusable, having been attacked by terrorists. The crew reported over the Abejorral NDB beacon at FL160, as they were approaching

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

. The flight was then cleared to descend to FL120 (about ), after which communication was lost. After multiple failed attempts to contact the flight, Medellín ATC declared an emergency. Because the

radio beacon In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction finding, direction-finding equipment to find relative Bearing (navigation), bearing. But instead of employing visible lig ...

was unserviceable, the crew made navigational errors. The 727 had actually not yet reached the beacon and descended into mountainous terrain. The flight then struck the Mount Paramo Frontino.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Colombia Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Aviation accidents and incidents caused by air traffic controller error Aviation accidents and incidents in 1993 Aviation accidents and incidents in Colombia SAM Colombia accidents and incidents 1993 in Colombia May 1993 in South America