2008 Mexico City plane crash

2008 Mexico City Interior Ministry plane crash

Cordoned-off crash site with burned buildings in background, with Mexican Police guarding the area
Accident summary
Date November 4, 2008
Summary Loss of control due to wake turbulence, pilot error, inadequate crew qualifications
Site Las Lomas, Mexico City
19°25′35″N 99°12′13″W / 19.42639°N 99.20361°WCoordinates: 19°25′35″N 99°12′13″W / 19.42639°N 99.20361°W
Passengers 6
Crew 3
Injuries (non-fatal) 40 bystanders seriously injured[1]
1,200 residents evacuated[1]
30 cars destroyed[2]
Fatalities 16 (all 9 on board plus 7 on ground) [3]
Survivors 0[2]
Aircraft type Learjet 45
Operator Secretaría de Gobernación
Registration XC-VMC
Flight origin Ponciano Arriaga International Airport, San Luis Potosí, S.L.P.
Destination Mexico City International Airport

An official Mexican Interior Ministry aircraft crashed in central Mexico City at around 18:45 local time on November 4, 2008. Mexican Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño,[4] who was aboard the plane, was killed in the crash, along with the other eight people on board and seven people on the ground.[5]

The plane crashed in rush-hour traffic close to the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and the Anillo Periférico, in the Las Lomas residential and business district.

Details

A picture of Reforma Avenue, the area in which the crash occurred

The Interior Secretariat-owned Learjet 45 (registration XC-VMC) left Ponciano Arriaga International Airport in San Luis Potosí, S.L.P., and was 12 km (7.5 mi)[6] short of landing at Mexico City International Airport when it crashed, amidst rush-hour traffic, in the heart of the financial district at approximately 18:45,[7] causing an explosion that "reached higher than the buildings."[8] According to then Secretary of Communications and Transport Luis Téllez, there were no survivors.[9] Téllez also stated that the crash appeared to be an accident.[10]

The crash heavily damaged the surrounding area, setting multiple cars and a newsstand on fire[2] and injuring at least 40 people. Body parts were reported to be scattered around the wreckage.[11]

A Canadian-built Learjet-45

Deaths

Among the dead was Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño, top aide to President Felipe Calderón.[12] Mouriño was in charge of the fight against the drug trade in Mexico.[11]

Also on the plane were:

Government response

Police guard the crash site, with burned cars visible behind them.

President Felipe Calderón addressed the nation live on national television. He spoke of Mouriño as "one of his closest friends and collaborators" and conveyed his condolences to the family.[14] He stated that Mouriño was a man "who always fought to make Mexico a better country" and he guaranteed the nation that there would be an investigation on the causes behind the plane crash. Calderón encouraged Mexican men and women to continue fighting for a better country, "no matter how difficult or painful any rising event may be".[14]

Marcelo Ebrard, Head of Government of the Federal District, also conveyed his condolences to the family of the Secretary of Interior and assured that Mexico City's government would issue a statement to the nation regarding the issue.[15] Ebrard later said that the Mexico City government would give financial aid to all of the injured receiving medical care, irrespective of whether they had been admitted to private or public hospitals, and he stated that the local authorities had handed over all recordings taken by surveillance video cameras to the federal attorney general (PGR),[16] along with all witness accounts that local police were able to gather.

Several other political figures have made statements regarding the crash, including various senators from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)[17] and Germán Martínez, leader of the ruling National Action Party (PAN).[18]

A group of senators – from different political parties – have asked the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) to investigate the accident so that all doubts and inquiries on the event may be cleared.[19]

Building under repair, two weeks after the crash.

Results of investigation

The black boxes were sent to the United States for analysis. Information gathered from 38 minutes of cabin conversations, along with video footage from a security camera on top of the Omega Office Building, provided evidence for an official statement by the Mexican Government that the crash was the result of pilot error.[20] The Learjet was ruled to have been following too close to a Boeing 767-300 operated by Mexicana, and therefore suffered violent wake turbulence caused by the larger jet. The minimum allowable distance for a lighter plane to follow behind a heavier plane is 5 nautical miles (9.3 km); the Learjet was only 4.1 nautical miles (7.6 km) behind the Aeromexico plane.

Investigations into the accident have discovered several issues with the Mexican government's use of private contractors as pilots of government aircraft, especially important in cases such as this, when the passengers are high-level officials. Aviación Ejecutiva SA de CV is a company out of Toluca, Mexico that currently holds the contract with the Mexican Federal government to provide services of maintenance and pilots for the federal airline fleet.

Benito Juárez Airport restricts light general aviation, which typically flies from Toluca International Airport. Only some government areas handle small and medium planes from facilities in Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport.

A video of the air traffic control radar and voice record was posted on YouTube since the crash of China Southern Airlines Flight 3456. The cause was similar to that kind of crash, officials say.

Several key elements of the accident have emerged during the investigation:

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Reporta GDF ocho muertos y 40 heridos de gravedad" (in Spanish). El Universal. April 11, 2008. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "3 dead, 5 injured in Mexico City plane crash". Xinhua News Agency. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  3. "16 Dead in Mexico Plane Crash". Mexico City: Latin American Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  4. news.bbc.co.uk, BBC Profile: Juan Camilo Mourino Archived November 4, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Suman ya 14 muertos" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 25, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  6. "Mike Charly, ¿escucha?... la respuesta jamás llegó". El Universal. November 6, 2008. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  7. "Mexican minister dies in crash". Sunday Times. November 5, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  8. "Mexico minister 'killed' in crash". BBC News. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  9. "Mexico interior minister aboard plane that crashed". Associated Press. November 5, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  10. "No Indications that Suggest a Hypothesis Other than that It was an Accident: SCT". Office of the President of Mexico. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Mexico's Interior Minister Killed in Plane Crash". Bloomberg Television. November 5, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  12. "Mexico interior minister killed in plane crash: official". ABC News. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  13. "Los tripulantes de la aeronave" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Ofrece Calderón condolencias a la familia de Mouriño" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  15. "Expresa Ebrard condolencias a familia de Mouriño" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  16. "Cubrirá GDF gastos médicos de heridos" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  17. "Manifiestan senadores priistas condolencias por muerte de Mouriño" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  18. "Lamenta Germán Martínez la pérdida de Juan Camilo Mouriño" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  19. "Piden senadores investigar a fondo muerte de Mouriño" (in Spanish). Mexico City: El Universal. November 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  20. AIN staff (November 5, 2009). "Turbulence Caused Mexican Learjet 45 Crash". AIN Online (Aviation International News). Archived from the original on April 18, 2013.

External links