Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Fabricio Jiménez
What: Conviasa Boeing 737-200 en route from Barcelona to Caracas
Where: Caracas
When: Sep 16 2010
Who: 97 passengers
Why: On approach to Caracas Venezuela, the plane systems alerted problems with the right engine. Pilots shut down the right engine and made a safe landing.
What: Armada Nacional Bolivariana Bell 212
Where: Playa Valdez port off Margarita Island Venezuela
When: Sept 14 2010
Who: 7 aboard, 2 fatalities, 5 injuries
Why: The Venezuelan military helicopter was engaged in rescuing 21 people aboard 2(?) small boats found adrift at sea. The helicopter had ferried doctors to a frigate, and after taking off from the frigate, collided with a navy research vessel,Armada Oceanógrafo BO-11, and fell into the ocean.
The co-pilot co-pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Alfredo Marquez and a crew member were killed. The pilot, Lieutenant Erick Martínez Sandoval, Lieutenant Edil Martinez and 3 other crew members were injured. The crash is under investigation.
updated
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Contact photographer Nigel Steele
What: Conviasa Aerospatiale ATR-42-300 en route from Puerto Ordaz to Porlamor Venezuela
Where: Puerto Ordaz
When: Sep 13 2010
Who: 51 aboard, 15 fatalities, 36 passengers and crew survived
Why: After takeoff while 10 miles from Manuel Piar International Airport, the crew experienced “control problems” requiring a return to the airport. Between the Caribbean island of Margarita and Puerto Ordaz, the plane crashed. 36 survivors were recovered from the wreckage and taken to hospitals and the remains of 2 were recovered.
As of Sept 18, the number of dead has risen to 17. Conviasa is suspending flights for two weeks for safety assessments.
The pilot was Conviasa Ramiro Cardenas.
The plane crashed in the Sidor Steel Mill junkyard/storage area amid heaps and barrels of unused steel.
While attempting an emergency landing, the plane became entangled with electrical wires and crashed.
Current reports indicate 23 survivors. We will be updating as we hear news.
Bolivar State Governor Francisco Rangel Gomez gas opened the following number for family members:
0800-BOLIVAR / 0800-2654827 for more information on passengers
Preliminary survivor list Unconfirmed
View large photo at Jetphotos.net
Contact photographer Nigel Steele
What: Conviasa Aerospatiale ATR-42-300 en route from Puerto Ordaz to Porlamor Venezuela
Where: Puerto Ordaz
When: Sep 13 2010
Who: 43 passengers and 4 crew
Why: After takeoff while 10 miles from Manuel Piar International Airport, the crew experienced “control problems” requiring a return to the airport. Between the Caribbean island of Margarita and Puerto Ordaz, the plane crashed. 30 survivors were recovered from the wreckage and taken to hospitals and the remains of 2 were recovered. However the numbers that have been released indicate 23 survivors, (implying 5 additional fatalities.) Also, there may have been 51 aboard, instead of the number 47 released earlier, possibly because a count did not accurately include the crew.
The pilot was Conviasa Ramiro Cardenas.
The plane crashed in the Sidor Steel Mill junkyard/storage area amid heaps and barrels of unused steel.
While attempting an emergency landing, the plane became entangled with electrical wires and crashed.
Current reports indicate 23 survivors. We will be updating as we hear news.
Bolivar State Governor Francisco Rangel Gomez gas opened the following number for family members:
0800-BOLIVAR / 0800-2654827 for more information on passengers
Preliminary survivor list Unconfirmed
What: Venezuelan National Guard Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter
Where: Buena Vista
When: August 27 2010
Who: 10 aboard
Why: The helicopter was engaged in searching for a group of suspected drug traffickers in southwestern Apure state.
Pictured: A Cessna T210F Turbo Centurion landing in Africa
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Sven De Bevere
What: Cessna 210F
Where: Pueblo Nuevo, municipio Veroes, Yaracuy, Venezuela
When: Dec 11, 2009
Who: 4 on board
Why: Friday, the Cessna had been seen flying low over a clandestine airstrip, allegedly used for drug trafficking. The Yaracuy state Special Action Squad discovered the plane whose identification numbers had been tampered with. The area was cordoned off and a gun battle occurred. Four or five individuals were in the plane, and drums of chemicals which are currently being analyzed.
What: KAVOK British Aerospace 3212 Jetstream 32 en route to Venezuela
Where: Metropolitano Airport, Venezuela
When: 19 JUL 2009
Who: 2
Why: On landing at Metropolitano, the plane suffered substantial damage.
What: Beechcraft BE-36 Bonanza en route from Miami to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
Where: Venezuela
When: 6 p.m. Brasilia time on July 11
Who: Mauricio Lustosa de Castro, CEO of Magnesita Refratorios SA
Why: Mauricio Lustosa de Castro’s private plane was last heard from in a distress call in Bolivar. Following the distress call a search and rescue began around July 13, though the incident was deemed a fatal crash on July 11.
A killing syndrome of four letters
By Héctor Héreter
Special for Air Crash News and Information
Right after 46 passengers and crew of Santa Barbara’s flight 518 were killed on February 21st on a desolated and cold mountain slope in the Venezuelan Andes, it became evident for many that Venezuelan pilots do as they wish, disregarding all local and international set of flying regulations.
Their attitudes demonstrate a lack of professionalism and excess of self confidence, mostly among the most experienced pilots who think of themselves as infallible. This leads to bad judgment and unfortunate decisions, in some cases with tragic results, as in flight 518.
Just as The Peter Principle states in a hierarchy members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their “level of incompetence”), with potential to create conflicts, or worse still, disastrous endings.
“The level of pilots arrogance in our country is amazing” says a high Venezuelan airline executive who prefers to remain in anonymity. “They do as they please regardless of regulations set by authorities or the airline the work for, and there is no nobody that can restrain them from following that behavior”
“And this is common among all the airlines?” we asked.
His answer gave us chills: “You better believe there is God who will protect you and start pray to him so you reach your destination in one piece every time you board a Venezuelan plane.”
The 518 flight is a vivid example of what is known here as the “3IA” syndrome: Impatience, Imprudence, Indiscipline and Arrogance.
Human error is a major, recurring issue in most aviation accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has consistently cited triplane’s crews as the major cause or factor of accidents, exceeding the proportion of accidents related to aircraft or environmental causes by a large margin. The human factor in modern aviation is a source of concern, since humans are the ones to suffer from the 3IA syndrome: aircraft equipment, engines, navigation and in-flight safety devices have become so good that human beings are the constant weak link in aviation safety.
NTSB HUMAN ERROR CHART
Unprofessional Attitudes 47%
Visual Perception Misjudgment 19%
Pilot Technique 21%
Inflight Judgment or Decision 5%
Improper Operation of Equip. 6%
Unknown Causes 4%
Santa Barbara’s crash started with a series of events that led to a disastrous end.
In first instance the pilot who commanded the ill-fated airplane, Captain Aldino Garamito, was called at last minute to substitute for the designated pilot grounded at the Vigia airport because of bad weather. Garamito who was an experienced pilot with 9 years in Santa Barbara, was hastening to return to his home near Caracas.
The first “I” of the 3IA syndrome: Impatience
In this point enters another law, Murphy’s law. Anything that can go wrong, will—and at the worst possible moment When an event begins badly and is not corrected on time, the subsequent decisions that are taken follow a mistaken path. Due to the change of pilots, SB flight 518 already had two hours of delay which increased the pressure on (and impatience of) the pilots. Such impatience was demonstrated when initiating the return to Caracas, the flight: 1) didn’t wait for the airplane’s avionics to calibrate, 2) didn’t follow procedure of preparing a pre- flight check list, 3) took a flying route prohibited by the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC the Venezuelan equivalent of FAA). This “non-approved air path” saved them 15 minutes on their way back to MaiquetÃa International airport.
This last decision, aside from being impatient, demonstrates imprudence, a lack of discipline and a failure to follow the set of flying rules established by the aeronautical authorities and Santa Barbara´s Corporate policies.
Several experts in the Venezuelan civil aviation agree that the most experienced pilots become victims of excess of confidence, developing among them a sense of “infallibility and rules don’t apply to them”. Minutes before the airplane collided with the mountain, copilot, Denis Fereira, said to Garamito “we just made another yucca”, That’s a Venezuelan idiom meaning that they were repeating a mistake.
Posted in “Vigilante Aéreo”, a blog dedicated to analyze airplane crashes in the country, were the last words ever exchanged between pilot and copilot just before they slammed the mountain wall:
“Sir. this is not the route”, says copilot Fereira.
“Relax, I know what I’m doing,” and then sarcastically adds, “Are you scared?”
The big gray barrier of mountains appears in front of them. They set the engines to full power.
The fatal affirmation of “Relax, I know what I’m doing.” and asking “Are you scared’?” is the last letter of the syndrome.
“A” for Arrogance and excess of confidence, ends the life of 46 people in a desolate and the cold Andean slope at 12,000 feet.
By Héctor Héreter
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. There are no words to describe the nightmarish war zone quality of the scene on the ground at the Santa Barbara crash site. Most of the photographs can not be shown–it is just that horrifying and heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims.
13,000 feet above sea level on the sheer cliff called “Indian Face” by the locals, buffeted by freezing winds, crews rappelled from helicopters to search the wreckage in a dramatic rescue and reconnaissance attempt. No survivors were found.
The flame-charred tail of the twin-engine plane rested on the mountainside amid fuselage and assorted wreckage.
The Merida airport six miles away is hemmed in among mountains in a region notoriously difficult to navigate. Terrain forced searchers to camp a mile away and hike in. Pilots–including the one lost in this flight–receive specialized training to fly through the area.
Venezuela mourns.
Santa Barbara Airlines 518 flight from Mérida to MaiquetÃa had 43 passengers and three crew members on board. Passenger list includes the Major of MucuchÃes Municipality, Mérida state, Alexander Quintero; foreign affairs expert Italo Luongo, and two relatives of the Vice-Minister of Citizens’ Security Tarek Al Aissami.
Six nautical miles from the Alberto Carnevalli Airport, it’s point of departure, the wreck was discovered.
Missing since Thursday, it failed to contact the MaiquetÃa airport air control tower within the 15 minutes after takeoff.
Venezuelan Civil Aeronautics Institute director Ramón Viñas declared in a public statement, “Given the way the airplane crashed, we believe no people survived,”
Officials with the Aeronautics Prosecution Office, physicians, pathologists, and forensic scientists and search and rescue teams are scheduled to begin removal of the aircraft and the victims.
Firefighter Department Sergeant Johnny Paz told local news TV channel Globovisión that the airplane shattered. “The plane crashed at 12,000 feet high against a stone wall in the high plateau.”
Status: Preliminary
Date: 21 FEB 2008
Time: CA 17:00
Type: ATR-42-300
Operator: Santa Bárbara Airlines
Registration: YV1449
C/n / msn: 028
First flight: 1986
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120
Crew: Fatalities: 3 of 3
Passengers: Fatalities: 43 of 43
Total: Fatalities: 46 of 46 (confirmed)
Airplane damage: Written off
Location: ca 10 km NW of Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD) (Venezuela)
Phase: En route
Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD/SVMD), Venezuela
Destination airport: Caracas-Simón BolÃvar International Airport (CCS/SVMI), Venezuela
Flightnumber: 518
518 departed Mérida (MRD) at 16:59 on a domestic flight to Caracas. Shortly after take-off the airplane flew into the side of a mountain. Weather reported about the time of takeoff (21:30 UTC) was:
SVMD 212100Z 29008KT 9999 SCT013 BKN100 XX/XX Q1018=
SVMD 212200Z 25005KT 9999 BKN013 OVC100 20/12 Q1021=
Film of ATR42 landing at Mérida Airport. Note the surrounding mountains and the fierce wind.
Head of the Civil Defense for Merida, Noel Marquez, said locals saw the plane go down 500 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Caracas, in the Andean region of Coyado del Condor.
The Santa Barbara Airlines flight went missing after departing from Merida at 5:45 pm (2245 GMT).
Rescue teams are in transit, according to Marquez. The plane they are searching for is a French-Italian-made ATR42 twin-engine turbo-prop. It crashed approximately 15,600 feet above sea level and sent no emergency signals prior to its disappearance. When air traffic controllers had been out of contact with flight 518 for hours, alarms went out.
Advance rescue teams traveled toward the Paramo Mifafi valley. The first rescue team left Thursday night for the village of Mucuchies, an hour from Merida but won’t not arrive at the accident location for about three hours because of the steep terrain and near freezing temperatures. Marquez, said “Early tomorrow (Friday) two M17 rescue helicopters will be deployed.” Until then, over a hundred searchers are working on on the ground.
National Civil Defense chief Antonio Rivero said officially that the plane is still listed as missing.The passenger list included a Venezuelan political analyst and relatives of a government official. The pilot had received special training for flying in the Andes and had been employed by Santa Barbara Airlines eight years.
The 20-year-old plane had no record of technical problems but the Aviation Safety Network publishes that the ATR 42 series has been involved in at least 17 accidents its beginnings in 1984. Psychologists have been sent to counsel relatives waiting at the airport.
