Faucett Flight 251

Faucett Flight 251

A Faucett 737-200, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident, at Arequipa in January 1994.
Accident summary
Date 29 February 1996
Summary Controlled flight into terrain[1]:38
Site Arequipa, Peru
16°20′27″S 71°34′09″W / 16.34083°S 71.56917°WCoordinates: 16°20′27″S 71°34′09″W / 16.34083°S 71.56917°W
Passengers 117
Crew 6
Fatalities 123 (all)
Aircraft type Boeing 737–222
Operator Compañía de Aviación Faucett
Registration OB-1451
Flight origin Jorge Chávez International Airport
Lima, Peru
Stopover Rodríguez Ballón Int'l Airport
Arequipa, Peru
Destination Crnl. FAP C. C. Santa Rosa Int'l Airport
Tacna, Peru

Faucett Flight 251 refers to a Boeing 737-200 that was operating a domestic scheduled Lima–Arequipa–Tacna passenger service and crashed on 29 February 1996, while completing the first leg, on approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport.[1]:34[2] All 123 passenger and crew aboard the aircraft lost their lives in the accident.[1]:34[2] It is the deadliest accident that occurred on Peruvian soil, as of March 2012.[3]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-222, tail number OB-1451, c/n 19072, that had its maiden flight on 21 October 1968.[2][4] Equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B engines, the airplane started its commercial career on 28 October 1968, when it was delivered new to United Airlines and registered N9034U.[4] Re-registered N73714 on 14 June 1971, Aloha Airlines took possession of the airplane until late October 1980, when it was transferred to Air California with the same registration.[4] Air California was rebranded AirCal in October 1981, and the aircraft was re-registered again to N459AC.[4] Following the absorption of AirCal into American Airlines, the airplane continued its career with this carrier until Braniff Airways received it, with the same registration, on 2 March 1989, later going to AL AC 2 Corp, on 15 May 1990.[4] Finally, the aircraft was delivered to Faucett on 15 July 1991, and registered OB-1451.[4] The airframe was 27 years and 131 days old at the time of the accident.

Description

Inbound from Jorge Chávez International Airport, the aircraft was on a DME approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport's runway 09, at night, in rain and mist, with thunderstorms reported in the area.[2][5][6] The crew had been issued an outdated barometric altimeter setting after bypassing an ILS signal, causing them to fly almost 1,000 feet (300 m) lower than the altitude they believed they were flying at. In fact, they had the wrong impression the aircraft was flying at 9,500 feet (2,900 m), when it actually was at 8,640 feet (2,630 m), some 850 feet (260 m) below the glideslope.[7] The flightcrew asked for the lights of the runway to be brightened as they could not see them when they should on normal approach, receiving a response from air traffic controllers that they were at full intensity.[5] The airplane crashed into hills at 8,200 feet (2,500 m) —the airport elevation is 8,405 feet (2,562 m)[8]—, at 20:25,[nb 1] approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) short of the runway and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) off Arequipa.[5][6][7] The aft section broke off on impact, and the main fuselage section continued to fly past the initial ridge and impacted near the top of the second one. The tail section fell into a crevasse between the two ridges.

There were 123 people aboard the aircraft, of whom 117 were passengers.[1]:34 The nationalities of the victims were as follows:[9]

NationalityPassengersCrewTotal
Peru77683
Chile33033
Belgium202
Canada202
Bolivia202
Brazil101
Total1176123

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Also reported to have occurred at 20:15.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 29 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "Accident record for Peru". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Boeing 737 – MSN 19072 – OB-1451". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Faucett 737: engine emergency ruled out". Flightglobal.com. Flight International. 13 March 1996. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Recorder reveals clue to 757 crash". Flightglobal.com. Flight International. 6 March 1996. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. A 28-year-old Boeing 737-200 (OB-1451) of Peruvian carrier Faucett Airlines crashed on a 29 February Lima-Arequipa domestic flight, killing all 117 passengers and six crew on board. The aircraft crashed at 8,200 feet (2,500 m) in mountains on the approach some 8 kilometres (4 nmi; 5 mi) from Arequipa, the airline says. The accident took place at 20:15 local time in rain and mist, with thunderstorms reported in the area, but the airport was accepting other flights at the time and operating normally.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Duffy, Paul; Velovich, Alexander (24 April 1996). "Track deviation was cause of Il-76 crash". Flightglobal.com. Flight International. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. The Faucett Airlines Boeing 737-200 which crashed on a night approach to Lima Airport [sic], Peru, on 29 February was lower than its captain believed it to be when it hit a hillside, say accident investigators. Data from the aircraft's cockpit-voice recorder and flight-data recorder reveal that, when the pilot reported the aircraft's altitude as 9,500ft, the 737 was at 8,640ft, about 850ft lower than the minimum approach height.
  8. ↑ Airport information for Arequipa Airport at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
  9. ↑ "123 Reported Dead in Peru Plane Crash". The New York Times. 1 March 1996. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012.

Further reading