Passengers 19 Aircraft type Saab 340A Date 18 May 2011 Fatalities 22 (all) Passenger count 19 | Survivors 0 Registration LV-CEJ Operator Sol Líneas Aéreas Survivor 0 Crew count 3 | |
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Summary Impacted ground following severe icing and stall in cruise Site Prahuaniyeu, Río Negro, Argentina Similar 2011 United Nations B, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, Airlines PNG Flight 1600, 2011 Antonov An‑148 cr, Angara Airlines Flight 5007 | ||
Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 was a passenger flight which crashed in Prahuaniyeu, Río Negro Province, Argentina, on 18 May 2011. All 22 aboard died. The aircraft involved, a Saab 340A, was operating Sol Líneas Aéreas' scheduled domestic service from Ingeniero Aeronáutico Ambrosio L.V. Taravella International Airport, Córdoba, to General Enrique Mosconi International Airport, Comodoro Rivadavia, with stopovers at Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport, Mendoza, and Presidente Perón International Airport, Neuquén. The crash occurred on the final leg, with the aircraft coming down 25 kilometres (16 mi) south-west of the town of Los Menucos, Río Negro. A preliminary report suggests it was caused by severe icing of the airframe.
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The flight crew declared an emergency at 8:50 pm (UTC−03:00). Local people around 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from the crash site saw an airplane flying extremely low. A few moments later they heard explosions and noticed black smoke coming from the ground, which suggested an accident had occurred. Firefighters arrived at the scene three hours later, finding no survivors. The black box was located the following day near the crash site. and retrieved on 20 May.
Aircraft
The plane involved in the accident was a 26-year-old Saab 340A. It made its first flight on 25 April 1985. On 30 May 1985, it was delivered to Comair and registered N344CA. On 1 February 1997, it became N112PX with Northwest Express. It retained the same registration when it went to the Puerto Rican carrier Fina Air on 17 July 2003, and later on, when it went to fly for RegionsAir on 25 May 2006. The airplane was stored by this latter airline in March 2007 before being bought by Sol Líneas Aéreas on 30 July 2010.
Passengers
One of the passengers was a child, while the rest were adults. Nine passengers boarded the airplane in Mendoza, nine in Neuquén, and one in Córdoba. One of the passengers used a passport for identification purposes at the check-in desk, while the rest used Argentine Documento Nacional de Identidad (DNI) identity documents. All of the passengers had Comodoro Rivadavia as their final destination, except for one of them, who flew from Córdoba to Mendoza.
Investigation
Argentina's Junta de Investigaciones de Accidentes de Aviación Civil (JIAAC) opened an investigation into the accident. In September 2011, a preliminary report was issued which stated that the cause of the accident was a stall due to severe airframe icing, and subsequent loss of control. The information in the preliminary report is subject to change before a final report is issued.