Avianca Flight 011
Encyclopedia
Avianca Flight 011, registration HK-2910 (formerly LN-RNA), was a Boeing 747-283B
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...

 on an international scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 via Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, and Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

 to Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

.

Avianca Flight 011 took off from Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle International Airport
Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport , in the Paris area, is one of the world's principal aviation centres, as well as France's largest airport. It is named after Charles de Gaulle , leader of the Free French Forces and founder of the French Fifth Republic...

 (CDG) at 22:25 for a flight to Bogotá
El Dorado International Airport
El Dorado International Airport is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin America airport in terms of cargo movements with 593,946 tons and the third in terms of passenger traffic, only behind São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport and Mexico City's...

 (BOG) via Madrid
Madrid Barajas International Airport
Madrid-Barajas Airport is the main international airport serving Madrid in Spain. In 2010, over 49.8 million passengers used Madrid-Barajas, making it the country's largest and busiest airport, and in 2009 it was the world's 11th busiest airport and Europe's fourth busiest airport. It opened...

 (MAD) and Caracas (CCS). The Frankfurt-Paris segment on this day had been cancelled by Avianca. As a result, the passengers who were to board Avianca flight 011 in Frankfurt had been placed on a Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

 flight to Paris. Because they had to wait for these passengers to land, Avianca flight 011 was delayed departing Paris.

The Boeing 747 climbed to a cruising altitude of FL370. At 23:31 the crew contacted Madrid ACC, receiving clearance to continue to the Madrid VOR
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...

 via Pamplona, Barahona, and Castejón. Fifteen minutes later the flight was cleared to descend to FL190. At 23:52 they were cleared down to FL90: "Avianca 011 está pasando Barahona, proceda ya directo a Charlie Papa Lima, y continúe descenso para el nivel nueve cero, cambio." ("Avianca 011 is passing Barahona, proceed directly to Charlie Papa Lima and continue descent to level nine zero, over.")

After contacting Madrid Approach at 23:56 they were cleared for a runway 33 approach. After reaching FL090 at 00:00 they were cleared further down. Madrid Tower at 00:03 then cleared the flight to land. Instead of turning right at the Madrid VOR, the crew initiated a turn short of the VOR beacon. The aircraft descended below the minimum descent altitude for that area.

The right main gear and no. 4 engine hit a hill at an altitude of 2247 feet and a speed of 142 knots. Three seconds later the aircraft impacted a second hill at a speed of 135 knots and a 4.9 degree nose-up attitude. Six seconds after contacting the 2nd hill, the aircraft (at 126 kts) hit the ground with the right wing, which broke off. The Boeing cartwheeled, broke in five pieces and came to rest upside down. Only 11 of the 169 passengers survived, and there were no survivors among the 23 crew.

Notable people killed

  • Jorge Ibargüengoitia
    Jorge Ibargüengoitia
    Jorge Ibargüengoitia Antillón , was a Mexican novelist and playwright who achieved great popular success with his satires, three of which have appeared in English: Las Muertas , Dos Crimenes , and Los Relámpagos de Agosto Jorge Ibargüengoitia Antillón (Guanajuato, Mexico, January 22, 1928 -...

  • Ángel Rama
    Ángel Rama
    Ángel Rama was a Uruguayan writer, academic, and literary critic, known for his work on modernismo and for his theorization of the concept of "transculturation."-Biography:...

  • Marc Raubenheimer
    Marc Raubenheimer
    Marc Raubenheimer was a South African pianist. A disciple of Friedrich Gulda in Munich, he graduated in London, debuting at the Wigmore Hall in 1978. For the next years he settled in London's musical life while he made headway to the American scene, debuting in the Carnegie Hall...

  • Manuel Scorza
    Manuel Scorza
    Manuel Scorza was an important Peruvian novelist, poet, and political activist, exiled under the regime of Manuel Odría. He was born in Lima....


External links


See also

  • List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
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