Another one down

[Ignatius 4]

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - - Four people were killed and 65 injured when a jet owned by Central America's TACA airlines overshot the runway and slid onto a road at Tegucigalpa's airport, the Honduran presidency said.

 

The plane, carrying 140 people including crew, "landed today at 10:00 in the morning, then slid off the runway at at Toncontin International Airport, with a toll of four dead and 65 injured," an official statement said.

 

The plane was an Airbus A-320 flying a Los Angeles-San Salvador-Tegucigalpa route, officials said.

 

It skidded off the runway, crashed down a 20-meter (66-foot) embankment, plowed across a road and broke into three pieces, TACA officials said.

 

TACA manager Armando Funes told local media that "the plane was completely destroyed" and that "the passengers were being taken to hospitals for evaluation."

 

Among the dead was Nicaraguan Harry Brautigam, the president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, and Janet Shantal Neele, the wife of the Brazilian ambassador to Honduras, Brian Michael Fraser Neele, who was hospitalized.

 

Also killed were the plane's pilot and a person in a car struck by the plane, the presidential statement said.

 

A total of six cars were hit by the airplane.

 

Many of the injured suffered smoke inhalation from a fire that ignited during the crash, rescue personnel said.

 

Honduras Industry and Commerce Minister Norman Garcia said poor visibility could have contributed to the crash.

 

The first hurricane of the season, Alma, swept through Central America yesterday, leaving the region humid and rainy.

 

"It was a difficult landing due to the clouds at Toncontin (airport). The cloud ceiling was very low and the pilot attempted to land on the first try but had to take flight again," said Garcia.

 

"On the second try, I saw the plane's tires touch the runway right in front of the terminal, and that was a sign he had overshot the runway," he said.

 

Also among the wounded were Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Guatemalans and Hondurans, according to information provided by diplomatic missions to local media.

 

The airport at Tegucigalpa is ringed by mountains and considered one of the most dangerous in Central America, according to aviation experts.

 

This was the eighth registered accident since 1959 for TACA, which underwent a major expansion in 1997 when it acquired several smaller regional carriers.

[Ignatius 4]

The airport itself is dangerous.. terrain related.. but can be one of the most interesting airport to see great low approaches..

[Simon 3]

Can't the pilot take flight again when noticed a late touch down?

[Naim 6]

 

 

 

 

 

[Ignatius 4]

Not sure whether its the captain or the F/o that got killed in this mishap.. Prayers to those that perish..Powerlines were also knock down,... must have blacked out some parts of the town?

 

Edited May 31, 2008 by Ignatius

[Pieter C. 5]

Plane Skids Off Runway In Honduras

 

May 30, 2008

A passenger plane skidded off a runway at Tegucigalpa Airport in Honduras on Friday on landing, veered onto a road and smashed into cars and a building, killing at least three people.

 

The TACA airlines Airbus, which had 142 people on board, lay broken in three parts and spewing fuel. Two people were still trapped in cars underneath the wreckage, an aviation official said.

 

The plane, arriving from San Salvador, circled the airport several times before attempting to land in heavy fog, survivor Mario Castillo told Honduran television.

 

"Suddenly we felt a big noise and we were all trying desperately to get out," he said. "The worst injured were the people in business class."

 

Local emergency services chief Carlos Cordero said three people were killed, two who were on board the plane and one who was driving a vehicle hit by the aircraft. Several others, including the pilot, were seriously injured, he said.

 

Some 20,000 gallons of fuel had leaked out of the wreckage, posing a serious fire hazard, Cordero said.

 

The plane zig-zagged off the runway and smacked into some cars, the local TACA manager, Armando Funez, told Honduran television.

 

One of the dead was Harry Brautigam, a Nicaraguan who headed the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said.

 

Tegucigalpa, nestled in hills, is one of the most treacherous airports for landing in Latin America due to its short runway and difficult approach.

 

"I am thanking God I am alive -- there are other passengers who are in a very bad way," survivor Roberto Sosa told Honduran radio.

 

The last time El Salvador's TACA was involved in an accident was in 1993 in Guatemala City when a Boeing 767 airliner overran the runway as it was landing and crashed into some houses. Nobody was killed.

 

(Reuters)

 

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

OMG...What a disaster

[Simon 3]

This is real bad....Very unlucky for the 2 drivers RIP...

[James Gota 0]

any body no the rego

[iwan 3]

the runway looks very shot even from the video..what a disaster indeed..

[Naim 6]

TACA statement states: "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."

http://www.aviationrecord.com/search-resul...p;articleId=505

 

Btw here are more pics.

 

===

 

Rescue workers try to extract the pilots from the cockpit after a commercial airliner crashed in Tegucigalpa, Friday, May 30, 2008. A Miami-bound jetliner overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a busy street in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring at least 18 others.(AP Photo/Jose Osorio)

 

Rescue workers help an injured woman out of a commercial airliner after it crashed in Tegucigalpa, Friday, May 30, 2008. A Miami-bound jetliner overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a busy street on in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring at least 18 others.(AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)

 

A commercial airliner is seen next to a street after it crashed in Tegucigalpa, Friday, May 30, 2008. A Grupo TACA airplane overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a city street Friday in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring at least 18 others. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)

 

Rescue workers carry the pilot from a passenger plane that skidded off a runway at Tegucigalpa airport in Honduras May 30, 2008. The TACA airlines Airbus, which had 142 people on board, skidded on landing veering onto a road and smashing into cars and a building, killing at least three people.

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido (HONDURAS)

 

Picture of the squashed cockpit of a TACA airplane that crashed at the Toncontin international airport, in Teguciglapa, Honduras. At least five people were killed and 65 injured when a jet owned by Central America's TACA airlines slid across a runway and onto a road as it tried to land at Tegucigalpa airport, rescue personnel said.

(AFP/Orlando Sierra)

 

Rescue workers surround a passenger plane which skidded off a runway at Tegucigalpa airport in Honduras, May 30, 2008. The TACA airlines Airbus, which had 142 people on board, skidded on landing veering onto a road and smashing into cars and a building, killing at least three people.

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido (HONDURAS)

 

Rescue workers surround a passenger plane which skidded off a runway at Tegucigalpa airport in Honduras, May 30, 2008.

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

[Desmond C 0]

still got 8 landings to reach 10000.

[Pieter C. 5]

Plane Skids Off Runway In Honduras, 5 Dead

 

May 30, 2008

A Salvadoran passenger plane skidded off a rain-soaked runway on landing at Tegucigalpa Airport in Honduras on Friday, killing five people and injuring 38 as it veered onto a road and smashed into cars and a building.

 

The TACA airlines Airbus A320, on a flight from San Salvador with 135 passengers and crew, lay broken in three parts and was spewing fuel after the accident, which happened in heavy rain and fog.

 

Passengers, some with blood streaming from their faces, stumbled out of the plane over the broken wings as onlookers rushed to pull survivors from the smoking plane.

 

A paramedic tried to resuscitate one man in the wreckage, while injured passengers sat stunned on the side of the road. One woman with a head wound asked repeatedly, "Where am I?"

 

Passersby struggled to pry open the cockpit to free the trapped pilots, one of whom died in a hospital.

 

The plane circled the airport several times before attempting to land in heavy fog, survivor Mario Castillo told Honduran television.

 

"Suddenly we felt a big noise and we were all trying desperately to get out," Castillo said. "The worst injured were the people in business class."

 

The plane skidded off the runway, which was sodden with rain from Tropical Storm Alma, and crashed through a fence into a busy road, killing two people in their cars. Two passengers also died.

 

Thirty-eight people were injured, local emergency services chief Carlos Cordero said.

 

Authorities closed the airport and transferred commercial flights to a military airport.

 

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.

 

Tegucigalpa is nestled in hills and has a reputation as one of the most treacherous airports in Latin America due to a difficult approach.

 

But Boris Ferrera, an official with Honduras' civil aviation authority, said there was plenty of room for the plane to land.

 

One of the dead was Harry Brautigam, a Nicaraguan who headed the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, TACA said. He died in hospital after being dragged from the wreckage by rescue workers.

 

"The plane landed on the runway and braked and braked but it seems that the rain and the wet made it slip off," said an airport security official who witnessed the accident.

 

TACA said in a statement the plane was carrying 124 passengers and 11 crew. A local TACA manager said earlier there were 142 people on board.

 

"I am thanking God I am alive -- there are other passengers who are in a very bad way," survivor Roberto Sosa told Honduran radio.

 

The last time El Salvador's TACA was involved in an accident was in 1993 when a Boeing 767 airliner overran the runway as it was landing in Guatemala City and crashed into some houses. Nobody was killed.

 

(Reuters)

 

[Louis L. 2]

sad to hear this kind of disaster , rip to the victims

[Mohd. Afiq A. 0]

Can't the pilot take flight again when noticed a late touch down?

 

Not when you have deployed the reversers, once you deploy them you're committed. If you realize you're not going to make it, go around...

[Min Chun 0]

From youtube :

no more Toncontin landings...these videos will become collectors items, just like Kai Tak, officially closed by executive decision to aircraft bigger than 40 passengers, sad but long overdue, I guess it took a tragedy like TACA's to make it happen, "tombstone technology" at it's best!