Narrative:An armed prisoner hijacked an Aerotaca Colombia plane, forced it to land at a remote airstrip, and then fled into the jungle with a hostage. The Beechcraft 1900 aircraft was carrying 17 passengers and two crew members on a domestic flight from Bucaramanga to Cúcuta. The prisoner was escorted aboard the plane by two armed police guards but was not handcuffed. Approximately eight minutes after takeoff from Palo Negro Airport, the hijacker produced a knife. He forced the pilots to land the plane at an airstrip near El Tornillo, located approximately 150 kilometers north of Bogota. The hijacker then fled into the jungle, taking one of the guards as a hostage. A right-wing paramilitary unit observed the plane land at the airstrip, chased and killed the hijacker, and released the hostage.
Classification:
Hijack
Sources:
» Criminal Acts Against Civil Aviation 2000 / FAA, Office of Civil Aviation Security
»
El Tiempo, 20 Feb 2000
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Bucaramanga-Palo Negro Airport to Cúcuta-Camilo Daza Airport as the crow flies is 115 km (72 miles).
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.