Accident Douglas DC-8-55F HC-BKN,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 327355
 

Date:Tuesday 18 September 1984
Time:11:04
Type:Silhouette image of generic DC85 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Douglas DC-8-55F
Owner/operator:AECA - Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos
Registration: HC-BKN
MSN: 45754/224
Year of manufacture:1965
Total airframe hrs:60070 hours
Cycles:17003 flights
Engine model:Pratt & Whitney JT3D-
Fatalities:Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:49
Aircraft damage: Destroyed, written off
Category:Accident
Location:Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO) -   Ecuador
Phase: Take off
Nature:Cargo
Departure airport:Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO/SEQU)
Destination airport:Guayaquil-Simon Bolivar Airport (GYE/SEGU)
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The DC-8 landed at Quito at 06:52 after a flight from Miami. Shortly after scheduled departure time of 09:00 members of the Ecuadorian Federation of Aircrews (FEDTA) requested and were granted permission to board the aircraft and discuss subjects relating to the aircrews' strike. The 4 Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos crewmembers didn't comply with the strike, after consulting AECA management. After a delay of about 2 hours, the no. 4 engine was started. The crew then ordered the aircraft to be towed to the runway, perhaps in order to hasten the departure. The other engines were started during the towing operation.
Pre-takeoff checks were not (or improperly) carried out. This caused the 0.05deg horizontal stabilizer nose-up to go undetected, while 8deg. nose-up is required for takeoff. The DC-8 thus barely climbed after a ground run, extended to 48 m beyond the runway end. The horizontal stabilizer struck the wooden structure of the ILS aerial, 83 m past the runway 35 end. The aircraft then crashed into houses, 460 m past the runway end and 35 m to the right of the extended centreline. A total of 25 houses were demolished.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The incorrect position of the horizontal stabilizer in relation to the aircraft's centre of gravity, which prevented the aircraft from reaching rotation and lift-off speed within the runway distance available.
Factors were: 1) Clearance of the aircraft from Quito was done incorrectly, since the MTOW permissible for the existing runway, wind and temperature conditions, the real take-off weight, the useful load distribution and the position of the aircraft's centre of gravity were not determined.
2) The crew's state of mind may have been a contributing factor in the accident. It is assumed that it prevented the crew from concentrating on all aspects of the operation they were performing."

Sources:

ICAO Cirular 202-AN/123 p.115-130

Location

Images:


photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Miami International Airport, FL (MIA/KMIA); July 1984


photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Johannesburg International Airport (JNB); September 1976

Revision history:

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