Passengers 26 Injuries (non-fatal) 0 Aircraft type BAC 1-11 Site Buenos Aires Operator Austral Líneas Aéreas Survivor 0 | Crew 5 Survivors 0 Date 7 May 1981 Destination Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Total fatalities 31 (all) | |
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Summary Bad weather leading to pilot error Similar Somali Airlines Flight 40, 1981 Armenia mid air collision, Inex Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 | ||
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.
Contents
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.
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.