Codesharing and other airline marketing links have come under international media scrutiny following the fatal crash on 20 April of an Air France flight operated by Ecuadorian airline TAME. The Boeing 727-200Adv, carrying 51 passengers and 10 crew, hit high ground in cloud about 3min after take-off from Bogota, Colombia, bound for Quito, Ecuador. All aboard were killed.
Air France flight 422 hit the 10,700ft (3,250m)-high El Cablo mountain about 150ft below its highest point. Since the elevation of Bogota's Eldorado International airport is 8,355ft, the aircraft had climbed only about 2,200ft when the impact took place.
Procedure when taking off from runway 13 demands a 90¹ right turn soon after take-off to avoid high ground, but the aircraft continued on a south-easterly heading, according to air traffic controllers at Eldorado. There was no emergency call from the crew.
Most of the passengers had arrived at Bogota on an Air France flight from Paris. TAME, operated by the military, is Ecuador's principle domestic and short-range international airline. The 26-year- old aircraft (HC-BRI) was one of four 727-200s and three -100s operated by TAME.
In August 1973 an Aerocondor Lockheed Electra flight crashed into El Cablo in cloud shortly after take-off from Bogota, killing all 36 on board.
Source: Flight International