barry lloyd,
Your comments re Tingo as an alternate coincide with my own recollection from when we handled Faucett in IQT. Pucallpa itself had improved considerably from when it was a dirt strip and the main road, requiring a low-level pass to get most of the people off the runway.
One of the things about jungle flying in areas that aren't that navigationally well-endowed is that, when the weather's really crappy, you get down under the cloud and do it visually. When the then brand new airport at Iquitos was opened I remember being on a flight operated by the prececessor of TANS, in a new F-28, where we did sixteen (yes!) approaches before landing, all the time flying at well under 2,000ft.
Pucallpa has better visual references than Iquitos, the main one being the highway to Lima, which passes close to the threshold and is arrow-straight for miles and miles. It would certainly be the main visual cue for anyone experienced on that run and, my guess, might account for early speculation that they were attempting an "emergency landing" on it. Which makes no sense at all. If anything, they'd have identified where they were in relation to the runway from their glimpses of the highway and were caught out by the downburst as they veered away right from it to then turn left and line up.
Another thread's been started focusing on post-crash looting. Not too surprising when an accident occurs near a populated area, between the time of the event itself and that of an organised force arriving on the scene. And pretty much the same thing in most poor countries and regardless of the type of disaster. Road crashes, or a truck loaded with rice turning over on a bend. The same villagers were the first to appear and - I would guess - would have been instrumental in helping a lot of people out of the aircraft and away from the accident. Some of them would take advantage and a poorly trained rescue team of conscripts wouldn't have the faintest idea of the importance of leaving mechanical remains in situ for analysis by the accident investigation team.
Edited to add that: back in the days when we didn't have accident investigation teams or the web, and before masses of people flew through the air in tin tubes, major accidents usually happened at sea. Looting and scavenging back then contributed a reasonable percentage of GDP to coastal Devonian, Cornwellian and Welsh populations. Still does, in a smaller way, in other parts of the world. Ever been to Anegada?
Last edited by broadreach; 26th Aug 2005 at 01:44.