Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901

An Austral Líneas Aéreas BAC 1-11, similar to the crashed aircraft
Occurrence summary
Date	7 May 1981
Summary	Bad weather leading to pilot error
Site	near Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Passengers	26
Crew	5
Fatalities	31 (all)
Injuries (non-fatal)	0
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	BAC 1-11
Operator	Austral Líneas Aéreas
Registration	LV-LOX
Flight origin	Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport
Destination	Buenos Aires Aeroparque Jorge Newbery

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901 crashed in a river near Buenos Aires after succumbing to a thunderstorm. All 31 people on the BAC 1-11 were killed in the accident.

Accident sequence

The flight took off for Buenos Aires at 9:11 local time. The flight was uneventful until final approach. At 10:42, the flight was cleared to land at Runway 13 of Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. Visibility was reducing, and eventually the pilots lost sight of the runway and aborted the landing. The flight then conducted a go-around and started its second approach. When approaching the NDB, the flight was cleared to hold at 600 metres due to a cumulonimbus cloud ahead. They were then cleared for a straight-in approach to Runway 31. Shortly after, the crew lost control of the plane and it crashed into a river. All 26 passengers and five crew were killed in the disaster.^[1][2]

Investigation

Investigations were hampered by the fact that only 55-65% of wreckage was recovered and after 42 days of searching, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were not recovered. The final investigation report blamed the pilots for underestimating the intensity of the storm.^[1]

References