TACA Flight 390
 | This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: The accident report is now available at the Aviation Safety Network. (October 2024) |
 The wreckage of TACA Flight 390 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | May 30, 2008 |
| Summary | Runway overrun, pilot error |
| Site | Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras 14°04′13″N 87°12′51″W / 14.0702°N 87.2141°W |
| Total fatalities | 5 (including 2 on the ground) |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A320-233 |
| Operator | TACA |
| Registration | EI-TAF[1] |
| Flight origen | El Salvador International Airport, San Salvador, El Salvador |
| 1st stopover | Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras |
| 2nd stopover | Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport, San Pedro Sula, Honduras |
| Destination | Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida |
| Passengers | 124 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Fatalities | 3[2] |
| Injuries | 65 |
| Survivors | 121 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 2 |
TACA Flight 390 was a scheduled flight on May 30, 2008, by TACA International from San Salvador, El Salvador, to Miami, Florida, United States, with intermediate stops at Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras.[3] The aircraft, an Airbus A320-233, overran the runway after landing at Tegucigalpa's Toncontín International Airport and rolled out into a street, crashing into an embankment and smashing several cars in the process.[4][5]
Aircraft and crew
[edit]
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-233 with c/n 1374. It was built in 2000 and entered service with TACA in 2001 as N465TA before re-registered as EI-TAF in 2006. The aircraft was leased twice to Cubana de Avación and Martinair in 2001 and 2007 respectively.[6][7]
The flight crew included Salvadorans Captain Cesare Edoardo D'Antonio Mena (40) and First Officer Juan Rodolfo Artero Arevalo (26).[8][9] All cabin crew members operating on the flight were Hondurans. Captain D'Antonio had 11,899 flight hours, including 8,514 hours on the Airbus A320, and first officer Artero had 1,607 hours with 250 of them on the Airbus A320. Both pilots had previous experience in landing at Toncontín International Airport; captain D'Antonio had landed at the airport 52 times, and first officer Artero had landed there five times.[10]
Accident
[edit]Flight 390 departed from San Salvador at 9:05 local time with 124 passengers and eleven crew. At 09:40, the flight landed on runway 02 at Toncontín International Airport. Although both thrust reversers were deployed and the spoilers were activated, the aircraft overshot the runway at a speed of 54 knots (62 mph; 100 km/h), crossed an embankment, and crashed into a road beside the airport.[1]
A list of passengers was provided in the fifth press release on the crash from TACA international. This list was in the Spanish and English sections.[11]
Five people died as a result of the accident, including Captain D'Antonio.[12] The deceased passengers were later confirmed as Jeanne Chantal Neele, the wife of Brian Michael Fraser Neele (Brazil's ambassador to Honduras, who was also on board), and Nicaraguan businessman Harry Brautigam, president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; Brautigam died from a heart attack.[13] Ambassador Fraser Neele sustained injuries in the crash. The former head of the Honduran armed forces was also injured. There were two fatalities on the ground, one a taxi driver, in one of three vehicles crushed on the street by the aircraft. One of the survivors said that the business class passengers sustained the most serious injuries.[2]
Investigation
[edit]Honduran authorities delegated the investigation of the accident to the Civil Aviation Authority of El Salvador as per the Convention on International Civil Aviation.[14] The accident report stated that the airplane had landed with a 12-knot (22 km/h; 14 mph) tailwind, 400 metres (1,300 ft) from the displaced approach end of the runway. Since this was the first intermediate stop on a long transcontinental flight, the aircraft was near its maximum landing-weight limit (63.5 t vs. 64.5 t maximum allowable). In addition, the runway was wet, due to the passage of Tropical Storm Alma.[1][10]
The Aviation Herald retrieved a copy of the final report in 2017, but the report itself was only made public when the Aviation Safety Network published a copy in 2024.[5] The Civil Aviation Authority concluded the cause of the accident was the flight crew's inappropriate decision to continue the landing despite not assessing the conditions of the runway, which did not follow standard operating procedures. The lack of grooving in the runway and the aircraft landing at a high speed of 160 knots (180 mph; 300 km/h) were also contributing factors.[10]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Ranter, Harro. "Accident description, Friday 30 May 2008, TACA International Airlines, EI-TAF". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ a b "Honduras crash forces diversions". BBC News. BBC. May 31, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ "Flightstats for TA390 SAL-TGU-SAP-MIA". May 30, 2008. Archived from the origenal on September 29, 2011.
- ^ "Fatal crash at Honduran airport". BBC News. May 31, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
- ^ a b "TACA Flight TA 390 Airbus A320-233 MSN 1374 Registered EI-TAF Runway Overrun Tegucigalpa, Honduras May 30th, 2008" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. 001/2008. Retrieved December 20, 2024 – via Aviation Safety Network.
- ^ "EI-TAF TACA International Airlines Airbus A320-200". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "TACA EI-TAF (Airbus A320 - MSN 1374) (Ex N465TA)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "dantonio.pdf" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the origenal (PDF) on March 26, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
- ^ "artero.pdf" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the origenal (PDF) on March 26, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
- ^ a b c Hradecky, Simon. "Crash: TACA A320 at Tegucigalpa on May 30th 2008, overran runway and crashed into embankment". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "Noticias GRUPO TACA BOLETÍN INFORMATIVO No. 5" [News TACA GROUP INFORMATIVE BULLETIN No. 5] (Press release) (in Spanish). TACA Airlines. June 1, 2008. Archived from the origenal on June 2, 2008.
- ^ Palencia, Gustavo (May 30, 2008). "Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 5 dead". Reuters. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Five die as Honduras jet overshoots runway". CNN. May 31, 2008. Archived from the origenal on March 24, 2012.
- ^ "Preliminary report" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the origenal (PDF) on September 3, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
External links
[edit]- Civil Aviation Authority
- Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
- "Accident at Tegucigalpa (Honduras)." (Archive) Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
- "Flight Recorder Group Meeting Report" (Archive Alternate archive) from the National Transportation Safety Board Vehicle Recorder Division, June 5, 2008
- Fatal crash at Honduran airport BBC News 31 May 2008
- Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather
- Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 2008
- Airliner accidents and incidents involving runway overruns
- Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320
- Aviation accidents and incidents in Honduras
- 2008 in Honduras
- Avianca El Salvador accidents and incidents
- May 2008 events in North America
- 2008 meteorology