Zero Seconds from disaster - AeroPeru Flight 603 Plane Crash
- 6 years ago
AeroPeru Flight 603 was a scheduled Lima(LIM)-Santiago
(SCL) flight, originating in Miami, which crashed on October 2,
1996.
On October 2, 1996, just past midnight, the Boeing 757 airliner crew, shortly after takeoff, reported receiving contradictory emergency messages, such as rudder ratio, overspeed,
underspeed and flying too low, from the onboard computer; asked for an emergency to be declared and decided to
return to base. Faced with the contradictory warnings, the pilot decided to descend. It was only when one wing
touched water, almost an hour after emergency declaration, that the pilots realized how confused and disoriented they
were. All nine crew members and sixty-one passengers died.
As the subsequent investigation proved, the primary cause of the crash was the masking tape left over the static ports
after cleaning the aircraft (procedures required that the static ports be covered during cleaning) — an error by the
maintenance crew. The static ports need to be cleared since they are particularly necessary for altitude and airspeed
data. This put the pilots in a very confusing situation with conflicting and false flight data, which affected even the
ability of ground radar to assist. The investigation put the responsibility on the flight deck crew since they did not
react in the best possible way, and tried to return to Lima, something impossible under VFR (visual flight rules), the
only way to do it without accurate data from the instruments.
Furthermore, they tried to get guided from the ATC. Unfortunately, the information available for the ATC was coming
from the transponder of the plane itself. In other words, the information was incorrect since the source was the same
that pilots had at the flightdeck.
Had they know the real problem (a tape over the static port) the solution should be very easy: Breaking the glass of a
pressure instrument. At that moment, they should start getting readings from the instruments. These readings should
be almost fully correct if they equal the inside pressure with the outside one.
Rumors abounded that the crash was caused by sabotage because supposedly the Peruvian Mafia wanted one of the
passengers (a prisoner who was being extradited to Argentina) dead. Those rumors were never confirmed. The official
leading the Peruvian investigation lost a nephew (the ill-fated flight's First Officer) in the crash. It has been stated by
coroners that some passengers survived the crash but drowned afterwards. Also, it is perfectly clear that the passengers
and crew were aware during their time in the air that the plane was in danger and that their lives were at risk.
Peruvian justice only sentenced the actual maintenance technician that had left the tape on the static ports, while not
apportioning blame on supervisors for poor procedures and the crew for inadequate pre-flight checkups.
The Flight 603 incident contributed to the demise of AeroPeru, which was already plagued with financial and
management difficulties.
(SCL) flight, originating in Miami, which crashed on October 2,
1996.
On October 2, 1996, just past midnight, the Boeing 757 airliner crew, shortly after takeoff, reported receiving contradictory emergency messages, such as rudder ratio, overspeed,
underspeed and flying too low, from the onboard computer; asked for an emergency to be declared and decided to
return to base. Faced with the contradictory warnings, the pilot decided to descend. It was only when one wing
touched water, almost an hour after emergency declaration, that the pilots realized how confused and disoriented they
were. All nine crew members and sixty-one passengers died.
As the subsequent investigation proved, the primary cause of the crash was the masking tape left over the static ports
after cleaning the aircraft (procedures required that the static ports be covered during cleaning) — an error by the
maintenance crew. The static ports need to be cleared since they are particularly necessary for altitude and airspeed
data. This put the pilots in a very confusing situation with conflicting and false flight data, which affected even the
ability of ground radar to assist. The investigation put the responsibility on the flight deck crew since they did not
react in the best possible way, and tried to return to Lima, something impossible under VFR (visual flight rules), the
only way to do it without accurate data from the instruments.
Furthermore, they tried to get guided from the ATC. Unfortunately, the information available for the ATC was coming
from the transponder of the plane itself. In other words, the information was incorrect since the source was the same
that pilots had at the flightdeck.
Had they know the real problem (a tape over the static port) the solution should be very easy: Breaking the glass of a
pressure instrument. At that moment, they should start getting readings from the instruments. These readings should
be almost fully correct if they equal the inside pressure with the outside one.
Rumors abounded that the crash was caused by sabotage because supposedly the Peruvian Mafia wanted one of the
passengers (a prisoner who was being extradited to Argentina) dead. Those rumors were never confirmed. The official
leading the Peruvian investigation lost a nephew (the ill-fated flight's First Officer) in the crash. It has been stated by
coroners that some passengers survived the crash but drowned afterwards. Also, it is perfectly clear that the passengers
and crew were aware during their time in the air that the plane was in danger and that their lives were at risk.
Peruvian justice only sentenced the actual maintenance technician that had left the tape on the static ports, while not
apportioning blame on supervisors for poor procedures and the crew for inadequate pre-flight checkups.
The Flight 603 incident contributed to the demise of AeroPeru, which was already plagued with financial and
management difficulties.