Weather is new focus as it emerges that 737-200Adv flightcrew did not report technical problems
Investigators are trying to establish whether windshear played a part in last week’s loss of a TANS Peru Boeing 737-200Adv, which undershot in bad weather on short finals to Pucallpa, Peru, killing at least 41 of the 100 people believed to have been on board.
The 22 August accident occurred when the 24-year-old twinjet (OB-1809-P) was on a scheduled service (flight TJ204) between the Peruvian cities of Lima and Iquitos with a scheduled stop in Pucallpa, carrying 92 passengers and eight crew.
As the 737 approached Pucallpa airport – which has an elevation of around 500ft (153m) – the local weather conditions consisted of heavy rain showers, low visibility and strong winds. Visibility was further hindered by seasonal brush fires. Although Pucallpa has a local VOR navigation beacon, its single 2,800m-long runway is not believed to be equipped with any precision-approach aids.
It is understood that up until the last radio contact at 15:01 – 5min before the crash – the flightcrew did not report any technical problems, but did indicate that the approach was being hindered by the bad weather. The airline, however, reports the aircraft was attempting an emergency landing.
The 737 struck the ground at 15:06, about 2nm (4km) short of the runway and roughly 10km west of Pucallpa. After sliding for 500m over swampland, the 737 broke apart when it struck a depression. Survivors say that a post-crash fire started shortly after the aircraft came to rest.
Although the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) has been recovered, as of late last week the flight data recorder (FDR) had not been located. The US National Transportation Safety Board is to handle the analysis of the devices.
Local reports say that the aircraft crashed in “marginally controlled conditions”, and that given the prevailing weather conditions Peruvian accident investigators are focusing on windshear as the potential prime cause.
The crashed 737 was originally delivered to South African Airways in August 1981, and joined TANS’ fleet on 17 June this year on lease from Safair. As of the end of June it had accumulated 49,534h and 44,876 cycles.
- French air accident investigation agency the BEA has been tasked with the technical investigation of both the CVR and FDR from the West Caribbean Airways Boeing MD-82 which crashed in northern Venezuela on 16 August. The aircraft crashed with the loss of all 160 on board, after both engines apparently stopped during a flight between Panama City and Fort de France in Martinique.
JACKSON FLORES/RIO DE JANEIRO & MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON
Source: Flight International
