TACA A320 overshoots at MHTG, crushing cars

[Aldo L]

A TACA A320 overshot the runway at Toncontin International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, crushing cars on the streets and apparently a small building. The aircraft suffered heavy damage, with a collapsed cockpit, broken fuselage, loss of right engine and landing gear going up through the left wing. A small fire on the right side was put off by firefighters. Conditions were reported as wet, after a day of heavy rain from a tropical storm. Pax: 124, plus crew.

[Rolling-Thunder]

link to story:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/05/30/honduras.crash.ap/index.html

[Chris Kilroy]

At least one killed, according to reports. Reuters also reports people may be trapped in cars, and that the aircraft hit a small food store.

[Aldo L]

Registered EI-TAF, formerly N465TA. Airbus A320-233. Delivered JAN 30, 2001, now sadly written off. Flew for Cubana and Martinair.

[TaCA]

I have flown TACA to Central America from LAX around 6 times to El Salvador, Guatemala, and <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:country-region><FONT face=<font size=" /><st1:country-region><ST1:pCosta Rica. I heard about the real short runway in MHTG long ago, and for that reason I have never flown into that airport. I make sure there are no stops at MHTG before I fly. I know any loss of life is never good, buy this could have ended very, very bad. </ST1:p</st1:country-region></FONT></FONT>

</ST1:p

[TaCA]

http://www.taca.com/eng/oth/oabo/oabohon.asp

Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
Friday May 30th 2008
12:00 hrs.
The airline informs that this morning, at 9:45 AM, flight 390 operating from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, suffered an accident upon landing at Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

At the moment, all 124 passengers have been evacuated from the aircraft and are being evaluated and receiving medical attention if needed.

TACA is executing all the emergency procedures and providing all the necessary resources to attend to the situation, focusing on all people involved in coordination with the authorities.

The aircraft is an A320-233 Airbus, Irish plate EI- TAF, series number 1374 built on January 4th 2001. Until May 29th it had accumulated 21,957 flight hours and 9,992 landings.

TACA will maintain a permanent process to provide official information on the status of different situations that develop in cases such as these.

[TaCA]

At least one pilot dead, report writes it was the Capt. It was a hard nose impact after it left the runway.

[scottkin]

4 dead now according to this article. Including both pilot and co-pilot. Sad http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=46392

[mainetc]

<IMG SRC=http://www.jetphotos.net/user-uploads/20111aa.jpg>

Hondurans help to take off one of the passangers during the rescue operation from a TACA airlines airplane coming from El Salvador which landed out of the landing strip at the airport of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 30 May 2008, leaving an uncertain number of injured and causing the dead of the President from the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (BCIE), Nicaraguan Harry Brautigam

[TaCA]

http://www.jetphotos.net/user-uploads/20111aa.jpg


crazy, look how the windows are off center, that must have been a hard and fast stop.

[Crunk415balla]

I saw a 30 second story of this on CNN. I hope the other pilot turns out alright.

[Aldo L]

Reports are emerging that the runway was repaved a few months ago, with 100 m added.

[Aldo L]

Surviving passengers say that the plane was in its second landing attempt.

[Cam]

Unreal.....sad day down there.

[NathanBartlett]

For those who havent seen this amazing video yet in MHTG...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ36dhkpDOY

As you can see, the runway is very short and has an amazing approach.
Very sad indeed.

[TaCA]

here are some more pics, in the slide show. like someone else wrote, unreal.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080531/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/honduras_plane_crash;_ylt=Aq270fF5kTETqhD5eFV.vsdw24cA

update from airline: http://news.taca.com/eng/nws/nwsbro.asp?key=902

[Tbun]

Airbus brakes are great. :skeptic:

[bob12312357]

For those who havent seen this amazing video yet in MHTG...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ36dhkpDOY

As you can see, the runway is very short and has an amazing approach.
Very sad indeed.
God damn thats a pattern I'd fly in our cessna's or piper's into our lil field. I think my spincter would be a lil tight on that.lol That was an awesome crosswind landing,right at the start of the runway,centerline,no float. Nice.

After reading the latest article, it looks like the pilot was frustrated on his 2nd approach, floated to mid-field and tried to put it down anyway being unfamiliar with the airport.

[Tanner_J]

God damn thats a pattern I'd fly in our cessna's or piper's into our lil field. I think my spincter would be a lil tight on that.lol That was an awesome crosswind landing,right at the start of the runway,centerline,no float. Nice.

He actually landed a few feet short in the displace threshold, but still good nonetheless.

[Dmmoore]

How fortunate there was no fire.
The wings remained basically intact and what fuel leaks their were did not find an ignition source.

The airport is a difficult one to operate into under the best of conditions but it is safe enough if the pilot is able to operate the aircraft at the limits of performance. For a pilot having a bad day, you see the result.
The obvious answer is to use an airport with longer runways!

My deepest condolences to the families of those who perished.

[TaCA]

link to landing vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlxAH2GfUY

[Gabriel]

The airport is a difficult one to operate into under the best of conditions but it is safe enough if the pilot is able to operate the aircraft at the limits of performance. For a pilot having a bad day, you see the result.
The obvious answer is to use an airport with longer runways!
Of course the longer the safer, that's a no brainer.

However, landing distance has pretty margin over actual demonstrated performance, meaning that a minimum legal runway length is pretty longer than what is physically needed to land and stop.

Still a lot of questions (appart of how long and fast was the landing) Did aircraft systems (spoilrs, brakes, reversers) worked as expected? Did the pilot operated them correctly? Was the condition of the runway worse than reported? Remember TAM was not what it seamed at first.

[TaCA]

update from Taca: http://news.taca.com/eng/nws/nwsbro.asp?key=902

[daniel@aviacioncr.net]

Full size images of the accident can be seen here:

http://www.aviacioncr.net/foto.php?id=19033
http://www.aviacioncr.net/foto.php?id=19034

[Tbun]

link to landing vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlxAH2GfUY

Yeh great video that real clear :-P considering some idiot scared he might lose 0.00002 cents on some copyright infringement has pasted words all over the visuals therefore rendering the whole film USELESS. Pathetic and reinforces what I believe about humanity in general.

[Airfoilsguy]

Yeh great video that real clear :-P considering some idiot scared he might lose 0.00002 cents on some copyright infringement has pasted words all over the visuals therefore rendering the whole film USELESS. Pathetic and reinforces what I believe about humanity in general.

Hey, another plane crashed, you should be happy:roll:

[TaCA]

Yeh great video that real clear :-P considering some idiot scared he might lose 0.00002 cents on some copyright infringement has pasted words all over the visuals therefore rendering the whole film USELESS. Pathetic and reinforces what I believe about humanity in general.


link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmRtLiLHJ14

[Leftseat86]

Is it just me or is the 757 in the AA video way below desired glidepath?

[MadDog]

Is it just me or is the 757 in the AA video way below desired glidepath?

Desired glidepath? The important thing for them is that they were able to stop on time.....

[Leftseat86]

Desired glidepath? The important thing for them is that they were able to stop on time.....


I guess hitting a tree is less of a concern?

The president of Honduras has just said that all international and large aircraft flights will be moved to the Soto Cano Air Base.

[bob12312357]

I guess hitting a tree is less of a concern?

The president of Honduras has just said that all international and large aircraft flights will be moved to the Soto Cano Air Base.
Not every airport has a 10+ mile final. YOu adapt your pattern based on the airport and surrounding terrain. Some airports require extremely steep approaches to clear obstacles and stop in time, others require terrain hugging approaches to minimize float. 5000' isn't alot of room to play with when ur traveling at 200+ feet a second. Float for a few seconds and ur day went from being stressful to your last.

[andrasz]

Is it just me or is the 757 in the AA video way below desired glidepath?

To me it appears the AA 757 is right on the glidepath. There is a VOR beacon on the hilltop, which is the initial aiming point for final approach.

[MCM]

Bob,


While what you say is true about there being terrain issues at some airports, modern airline flying is about stable approaches, and as such airlines will often not fly into an airport that doens't have an appropriate approach.

A 3 degree profile is fairly standard, and only small deviations off this are usually tolerated.

I hope you are talking about flying smaller types of aircraft if you are "terrain hugging" or flying steep approaches... Dash 8's can probably do this happily in fine weather, but aircraft like A320's should not be flown like that. If an airport doesn't have an approach that can be flown at a reasonable approach slope, its not the place for big aircraft.

[bob12312357]

Bob,


While what you say is true about there being terrain issues at some airports, modern airline flying is about stable approaches, and as such airlines will often not fly into an airport that doens't have an appropriate approach.

A 3 degree profile is fairly standard, and only small deviations off this are usually tolerated.

I hope you are talking about flying smaller types of aircraft if you are "terrain hugging" or flying steep approaches... Dash 8's can probably do this happily in fine weather, but aircraft like A320's should not be flown like that. If an airport doesn't have an approach that can be flown at a reasonable approach slope, its not the place for big aircraft.
Thank you my good sir, I have a lil bit of an idea on how 2 aviate. A 3 degree approach works fine,when ur not in the middle of a valley. So while many airlines may choose to land larger craft at an airport with no terrain obstacles for miles,a 3 degree glide slope, and a 9000+ foot long runway. However outside of the U.S. and even at some airports in the U.S. this is not always feasible. In that case you must fly an approach that best suits the surrounding terrain and aircraft. The aircraft doesn't know how long the runway is, the only thing the craft is gonna really know the diffrence of is field altitude and braking action. However for shorter fields the pilot will damn well notice the diffrence. To a pilot unfamiliar with the field the added adrenaline of the fact the plane has 6100' instead of the usual 9000' is going to make the pilot more prone to errors. Now the pilot is more stressed at a time due to the decreased runway length all decisions must be made quickly and decisevely on how to fly the approach,how to time the flare and aircraft energy for minimal float,noticing a wind shift to a tailwind,and at what point to initiate a go around if not on the ground with sufficent distance for a stop. The reports are the accident flgiht floated to mid-field prior to touchdown...

[kjpeters]

Bob, you have to add the fact that the pilot already did a missed approach, so he was with extra pressure to land and depart as soon as possible.

TACA flight 390, as I remember, starts in San Salvador with intermediate stops in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, final destination in KMIA, and all the way back as flight TA391, the airplane must do the round trip before 6 PM to connect with passenger coming into San Salvador's TACA hub.

We are clear that MHTG is a dangerous airport, where a stabilized approach is not a priority, even a possibility, specially when you have 3 steps approach really close one to the other. I agree that big planes are not the good choice to flight into that airport. What I had seen is MHTG's operators usually flew with B737, not A320. Those anybody knows if 737 flights better in that conditions? Was A320 a bad decision for TACA?

[Leftseat86]

Anyone who says "ur" and to as "2" on the internet probably does not know much about "aviating"

[MCM]

My point is, Bob, that if the requirements to have safe stabilised approaches can't be met, then these types of aircraft shouldn't be operating into the airport.

In a prop driven aircraft, (even say a Dash 8) you can have a high level of control with your speed, and these aircraft tend to be able to stop very quickly too, which is an added bonus. They have proven themselves perfect for flying into difficult airports.

My point is NOT about runway length... if the flight manual says that the airfield is long enough, then thats fine. Most pilots would have calculated a "last point of touchdown" to overcome what you say about having to decide when you must have touched down by on a short runway.

My point is if there are difficult terrain features, and if a reasonable consistant approach can't be flown (even using GNSS RNP procedures) then the aircraft shouldn't be operating there. "Terrain Hugging" and making up your own slope for the approach isn't what should be done in large jet transport aircraft, and the industry will be much safer when the airlines stop doing it.

I am NOT saying that is what has happened in this particular incident, however.

[shimin]

Full size images of the accident can be seen here:

http://www.aviacioncr.net/foto.php?id=19033
http://www.aviacioncr.net/foto.php?id=19034


sorry, sir. I can not open them.

[Dmmoore]

sorry, sir. I can not open them.

They open fine for me. Check your browser security settings.