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TACA aircraft crashed in Honduras
TV news saying that a Taca aircraft crashed in Honduras a few minutes ago, 09:45 local (15:45 Zulu); flight 390 was going from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa was returning after aborted the landing due to the bad weather. More to come
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More info (spanish text)
Se estrella un Airbus en el aeropuerto de Tegucigalpa (Honduras)12:18 pm | 30 May 2008 | 12 comentarios | 2,373 views
Un avión de la aerolínea TACA procedente de El Salvador se salió hoy de la pista tras aterrizar en el aeropuerto de Tegucigalpa, causando una cantidad no precisada de heridos y sin que se confirmen muertos, según los cuerpos de socorro. Foto: David James Clelford - Airplane Pictures.Net La aeronave es un Airbus, que cubría el vuelo 390, que terminó su recorrido en una vía muy transitada después de salirse del extremo norte de la pista de aterrizaje. El gerente en Honduras de la línea aérea salvadoreña Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano (TACA), Armando Fúnez, confirmó a periodistas que el avión procedía de San Salvador y cubría el vuelo 390. Al parecer, la mayoría de los pasajeros se han salvado: hay varios heridos y bastantes ilesos que ya han sido rescatados. Sin embargo, hasta ahora se desconoce cuántas personas viajaban en el avión. “En principio, no tenemos más que daños materiales”, afirmó Fúnez ante preguntas sobre si se han confirmado víctimas mortales. |
The above, but in English -
An Airbus crashed at the airport in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) 12:18 pm | 30 May 2008 | 12 reviews | 2373 views A plane of the airline Taca from El Salvador today left of the runway after landing at the airport in Tegucigalpa, causing an unspecified number of wounded and refined without being confirmed dead, according to the relief corps. Photo: David James Clelford - Airplane Pictures.Net The aircraft was an Airbus, which covered flight 390, which completed its journey in a highly traveled after leaving the north end of the runway. The manager of Honduras in the Salvadoran airline Air Transport in the Americas (TAC), Armando FUNEZ, confirmed to journalists that the plane came from San Salvador and covered flight 390. Apparently, most of the passengers have been saved: there are several injured and many unharmed who have already been rescued. So far, however, is unknown how many people were travelling on the plane. "In principle, we have no more than material damage," said Fúnez face questions about whether they have been confirmed fatalities. |
Check on www.cnn.com/live for video from TVC Honduras......
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update
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Video can be seen here: http://www.photos.aero/safety/avion-homdu.wmv
(thanks to www.photos.aero for hosting) Doesn't look good at all! Seems to have split in 2 :eek: |
thank God no fire. HOPe the pilots are ok. LOTs of damage to nose area it seems from the vid
edit: IT seems one of the pilots had died in this accident. |
about the airport
from wikipedia...while the runway is sufficient, it is on the short side:
Toncontín International Airport From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia **(Redirected from Toncontin International Airport) Jump to: navigation, searchToncontín International Airport IATA: TGU – ICAO: MHTG Summary Airport type Military/Public Operator Military of Honduras Location Tegucigalpa Elevation*AMSL 3,294 ft / 1,004 m Coordinates 14°03¢39<=N 087°13¢02<=W? / ?14.06083, -87.21722 Runways Direction Length Surface m ft 02/20 1,863 6,112 Asphalt Toncontín International Airport (IATA: TGU,*ICAO: MHTG) is a civil and military airport that serves Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is 6 km away from Tegucigalpa's center. The airport's single runway is 1,863 m (6,112 feet) in length and is at an altitude of 1,004 m (3,294 feet). Boeing 757s are the largest aircraft that can land at Toncontín, as it is one of the shortest international runways in the world. During the Football War of 1969, Toncontín was a major target for the Salvadoran Air Force, and it was bombed on several occasions. In 2000, the airport handled 6,895,267 tonnes of cargo, 12,911 aircraft and 364,141 passengers. Toncontín International Airport has 4 gates (2 in the new terminal), 2 baggage claim belts, 150 short term parking spaces, a post office, a bank, a bureau de change, many restaurants, several airline lounges, a duty free shop, car rental services and a first aid room. The old terminal is undergoing renovation, and will be used for domestic flights in the future. The new terminal is now used for international flights. Toncontín is also the home of the Aeroclub de Honduras. The origin of the name Toncontín is unknown. This airport has received much criticism for being one of the most dangerous in the world due to its proximity to the mountains and for years efforts have been made to replace it with Soto Cano airport in Comayagua, currently an airbase. Toncontín has been improved significantly by the work of CAT (the Airport Corporation of Tegucigalpa) and by INTERAIRPORTS, a company hired by the government of Honduras to administer the four airports of the country. [edit] Airlines and Destinations * American Airlines (Miami) * Atlantic Airlines de Honduras (Roatan, La Ceiba, Puerto Lempira, San Pedro Sula, Útila, Guanaja, Belize City, Ahuas, Bluefields, Corn Island, Grand Cayman, Managua, Puerto Cabezas) * Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental) * Copa Airlines (Panama City, San José (CR)) * TACA (Miami, San Salvador, Guatemala City, San Pedro Sula) * Islena Airlines (La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula) * Aerolineas Sosa (San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Roatan, Puerto Lempira) [edit] Accidents and Incidents May 30, 2008, Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Airbus A320 EI-TAF: flight TA390, from San Salvador overan runway in approach to Tegucigalpa Airport, with bad weather conditions. At least 2 fatalties. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toncont%C3%ADn_International_Airport" This page was last modified on 30 May 2008, at 18:16. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers |
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In English....
http://www.taca.com/eng/oth/oabo/oabohon.asp |
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Reuters reporting Three Dead...
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...rpc=22&sp=true Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 3 dead Fri May 30, 2008 2:31pm EDT By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - 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 told Reuters. 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. (Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Cyntia Barrera in Mexico City and Alberto Barrera in El Salvador; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Vicki Allen) |
20,000 gallons? that would be about the whole weight of the plane...maybe 20k pounds? even that is alot.
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Seem to be different versions on the fate of the Captain. According to Costa Rican paper "La Nacion" fire fighters reported that the Captain died however this is not yet official.
http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/may...do1558631.html |
Captain, and 1 pax died, plus 1 ground casualty it seems.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1429/78747491aj1.jpg Is it normal for the speedbrakes to retract in a situation like this? and I see 1 spoiler panel up? 8 more landings and this plane would have made 10,000 landings... PK-KAR |
Perhaps due to loss of hydraulic pressure as a result of damage from the impact.
In any case, it is reported that the runway was wet as a result rains from Tropical Storm "Alma" which has been menacing the area. Toncontin is probably the most difficult major airport in the region. My condolences to the families and friends of the victims. |
spoilers?
PK-KAR,
No spoilers on the left side either: http://sbxp.info/photos/Taca.jpg RIP to all .. Cheers BF |
I know on the 737 we would retract the spoilers during an emergency evacuation, if possible. Is that the case in the airbus 320 series?
a subsequent report indicates it was 2000 gallons, not 20k gallons of fuel. certainly checking position of reversers, spoilers and the like are quite important to the investigation. |
short runway, overrun, airbus 320...a tiny bit like sao paolo
wonder what the status of the reversers was wonder if this was an attempted go around after landing/? |
Now pilot and co-pilot...
are reported to be dead:
A320-233 EI-TAF from TACA (Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano) Crashed while landing in Tegucigalpa, overshooting runway Pilot and co-pilot killed, also 2 passengers from 124 aboard Many wounded, deadtoll likely to rise Ended onto a road, crashing into cars Indeed, circumstances seem to be somewhat similar to the Congonhas crash. SCO:( |
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View video
Click below for the video:
http://www.latribun a.hn/data/ webmaster/ multimedia/ videosnews/ index2.html |
The aircraft appears to have overrun in the 01 direction, i.e. beyond the 19 threshold. If so, according to the reported wind the landing might have involved a tailwind component. In addition, it is most likely that the runway was wet.
Although the runway is listed as having an asphalt surface, here is no immediate information on its condition, grooving, or likelihood of rubber deposits. However, the conditions seem to indicate increasing risk when landing on a short (limiting?) runway. Even if this speculative view proves to be incorrect, it would be timely to review some of the issues in accidents similar to this:- Managing the threats during approach and landing. AC 91-79 Runway Overrun Prevention. Running out of runway. Safety aspects of aircraft performance on wet and contaminated runways. |
Hi,
Pic in M609 post scare me The plane had crushed aerial power lines... They are so lucky it was not a fire start. Sad end for some anyway. RIP Cheers. |
PEI (prince edwards island?)
I think your observation about a tail wind landing is correct. thank you for helping us all with the runway orientation of this unusual airport. An EMAS system would have helped here, as in Sao Paulo. |
Not exactly an ILS in Schiphol ... here
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what type of approaches are available to this runway?
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Non-precision only, VOR and NBD if memory serves me right
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Approaches and maps for MHTG (Toncontin)
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Photo of the runway at Toncontin
The runway at Toncontin is surrounded by mountains, and is extremely short. Look at the TACA airplane crawling on the approach (left corner below in the photo), seems a steep descent, even when visual, imagine landing in the middle of the runway as has been expressed by witnesses.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ont%C3%ADn.jpg |
With respect to those who have and will yet remind us of the Congonhas TAM crash, so far the similarities are only that both have a steep drop-off at either end, as do runways gradually lengthened in many other places to accommodate larger aircraft. Tegucigalpa has more in the way of terrain restrictions than Congonhas.
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Caution when flight planning, use Palmerola
It is now confirmed that aircraft up to 42 passengers will be the only ones using Toncontin because of the short runway. From now on, heavier aircraft operations than those referred with destination/departure Tegucigalpa will be performed from Palmerola, where a military base is located.
Coronel Enrique Soto Cano AB (XPL) Honduras Airport Code : XPL Airport Name : Coronel Enrique Soto Cano AB Runway Length : 8008 ft. Runway Elevation : 2061 ft. City : Comayagua Country : Honduras Country Abbrev. : HN Airport Guide : Unavailable Longitude : 87° 37’ 16” W Latitude : 14° 22’ 57” N World Area Code : 131 GMT Offset : -6.0 Telephone : Unknown Fax : Unknown Email : Unknown Website : Unknown http://www.elheraldo.hn/imgs/palmerola.jpg |
Is it normal for the speedbrakes to retract in a situation like this? and I see 1 spoiler panel up?
With the engines off there is no hydraulic power, spoilers are deployed with hydraulic power, so they should be stowed. As for the one spoiler that is partially deployed there could be any number of reasions with damage to the input system the most likely. |
Toncontin airport charts
Now back to analize the crash scene, these are the charts for MHTG - TONCONTÍN Internacional
1- Airport diagram, 2- Airport obstacles, 3- Tegucigalpa area chart, 4- VOR/DME Rwy 02, 5- VOR/DME Rwy 20. Got them from http://www.cocesna. org/aip_ca/ mhtg.htm MHTG - TONCONTÍN Internacional AD 2.1 AERÓDROMOS / MHTG MHTG AD 2.1 1.- Plano de Aeródromo2.- Plano de Obstáculos de Aeródromo Tipo A3.- Carta de Area TEGUCIGALPA4.- Carta de Aproximacion por Instrumentos VOR DME RWY 025.- Carta de Aproximacion por Instrumentos VOR DME RWY 20 |
This aircraft is landing the opposite direction on rwy 20. He looks fine considering it is a telephoto lense making it appear high. From the north landing on this runway you can do a normal 3 degree glide slope so it is a non event. The other way on 02 is much more challenging. Not that hard but little margin for error.
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I hope closing TGU to large commercial aircraft is not true. The only airline that has had problems there in the last decade is Taca. They refuse to go around for some reason when they know they will land long. AA and Continental have strict rules on going around if they go beyond the 700 ft touchdown zone. Taca had an incident in another A320 about 9 years ago when they almost slid off that same cliff. When I landed my 757 there they were cocked 140 degrees to the left in the ditch between the runway and taxiway to not go off the cliff that time. Just close the TGU airport to Taca until they agree to touch down on the touchdown zone. The last report I read on the first mishap was the captain said he realized the autobrakes were not working about 500 meters from the end????? I found that in the accident files many years ago. I know Airbus pilots put a lot of faith in their automation but where does it end?
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Really sorry for the bad news, but president Zelaya confirmed on an interview with CNN the move of bigger airplanes to Palmerola. That decision includes taking TACA, American and COPA there. How they will do it from one day to the other?, I do not know. Enclosed below is a copy of the news, in spanish, and this is a link to the approach under VFR, imagine that in IFR. http://youtube.com/watch?v=iAxAso8xSo0&feature=related
Presidente Zelaya anuncia uso de aeropuerto de Palmerola para aviación comercial 14:52 30 Mayo 2008 Autor del articulo: Proceso Digital http://proceso.hn/bin/ImgShow.php?aid=6270 » Mas noticias Gobierno anuncia que ocupará Palmerola para aviación comercial; EEUU dice que retirará su equipo de la base aérea http://proceso.hn/bin/ImgShow.php?aid=6288&type=Related Tegucigalpa - El Gobierno el presidente Manuel Zelaya Rosales determinó ésta tarde utilizar la base aérea de Palmerola como principal aeropuerto en la zona central de Honduras mientras que el embajador estadounidense en Tegucigalpa, Charles Ford, dijo que su país retirará su equipo de inmediato sí esta determinación se materializa. A cinco aumenta el número de víctimas por accidente de avión de TACA en Toncontín http://proceso.hn/bin/ImgShow.php?aid=6269&type=Related Tegucigalpa - Al menos cinco personas, una de ellas el presidente del BCIE, Harry Brautigam, murieron hoy en el accidente del avión de Taca que se salió de la pista del aeropuerto internacional de Toncontín, en Tegucigalpa, informaron fuentes del Cuerpo de Bombero. Tegucigalpa – El presidente de Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, anunció hoy el uso de las instalaciones del aeropuerto de Palmerola, en Comayagua, para uso de la aviación comercial. El anuncio lo hizo en una entrevista con la cadena internacional de noticias CNN. “Exactamente, estamos convocando a los ministros del ramo en este momento para tomar una decisión que hace muchos años se hubiera tomado en el país, pero que ahora se hace urgente por la calamidad que ha sucedido”, dijo tras lamentar el accidente en el que falleció el presidente del BCIE, Harry Brautigam. “Hoy mismo se van a hacer todas las diligencias para que los aviones de gran tamaño que están aterrizando en Toncontin que se ven siempre en este tipo de situaciones difíciles que ocurren no por la ubicación ni el tamaño de la pista, sino porque Tegucigalpa está colocada en una cuenca hidrográfica llena de cerros y de montañas, el problema nunca ha sido la pista, el problema es la aproximación a la pista, siempre se hace con mucha pericia…”, declaró. Cuando le preguntaron que si se trataba de sacar de Toncontín a todas las aerolíneas importantes incluyendo Taca, American Airlines y Copa, respondió que “así es”. Dijo que es una decisión en la que “hay que involucrar a las personalidades que realmente están manejando las diferentes áreas, y el Gobierno de la república de Honduras va a tomar esa decisión en los próximos minutos”. La idea de convertir Palmerola en aeropuerto comercial, no es nueva, pero tampoco ha logrado concretarse a pesar de las intenciones de las autoridades. En Palmerola funciona desde hace años una base militar de los Estados Unidos. |
I just emailed my friend managing our operation at TGU and he said the new captain landed in the touchdown zone so please take the long landing assumption I just made for what it was, careless assessment of an unknown cause. I have landed there over 500 times with no problem with runway length. If the pilot touched down, as my friend stated, in the touchdown zone then the Airbus autobrakes and spoilers should have brought it to a full stop with plenty of margin, even with the small tail wind. Why didn't it?
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I’m a bit confused. I just looked at the approach plates for both 02 and 20 at Toncontin (Jeppesen 2006 vintage). Both show straight-in approaches. 02 flies 198 from the VOR descending from 9000 to a procedure turn at 8,000 with an 8 mile final heading 018. Yet, if you look at the You Tube video’s they show aircraft making a 90 degree left turn to a very short final when using 02. Can those who have piloted aircraft into the airport clarify this for me please?
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