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Today we remember the anniversary 40 of the accident of Boeing 737-200 HC-BIG de TAME in approach to the Cuenca city. Foto Clint Groves/https://aviation-safety.net
We will review the history of what has been the most tragic day for Ecuadorian aviation in its history, the accident of Boeing 737 from Tame on Cuenca set several unfortunate records for the country and also for this aircraft model.
It was the early hours of the morning 11 July 1983, when flight EQ173 approached Mariscal Lamar Airport in Cuenca, but due to multiple distractions and human error, the plane impacted a mountain just 1.6 kilometers of the track, causing the unfortunate death of the 119 people on board.
Boeing accident 737-200 of Tame in Cuenca
as i told you, this accident takes several unfortunate records to his credit, having been even at the time, the first fatal crash involving a jet airliner Tame suffered. Many photos of the remains of the accident circulated in the media that reported the events, even several headlines where a possible attack was suspected made a portal there in 1983.
Time passed and the investigation showed other results that we will discuss below., but without a doubt this unfortunate accident left Ecuador and to the world airline industry great learnings, being even referred to in several international studies on the bad corporate and cabin decisions that were made that day.
In case you didn't know, this had been the first aircraft to acquire Tame brand new from factory to Boeing and at the time of the accident he was a little over 2 years since your first flight, which also marked that chronologically it is the tenth fatal accident of this aircraft model, It is the sixth accident with the most fatalities in the 737 and historically it is the worst accident in Ecuador.
It is important to indicate that on this flight there were 11 Colombians, 5 Americans and 103 Ecuadorians (8 crew members).
Final report
Sources were deeply sought to reveal the final report where Boeing and the NTSB of the USA, but this document was not found, so I share information from the Aviation Safety Network portal that collects the following:
| state: | |
| Date: | Monday 11 julio 1983 |
| Hour: | 07:40 |
| Type: |  Boeing 737-2V2 |
| Operator: | TAME Ecuador |
| Registration: | HC-BIG |
| Serial number: | 22607/775 |
| Year of construction: | 1981-06-11 (2 years and 1 my |
| engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 |
| Crew: | fatalities: 8 / occupants: 8 |
| passengers: | fatalities: 111 / occupants: 111 |
| Total: | fatalities: 119 / occupants: 119 |
| Aircraft Damage: | Destroyed |
| Impact: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 1,5 km (0.9 in what) from Cuenca ( Ecuador) |
| Elevation of the accident site: | 2605 m (8547 feet) amsl |
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | Scheduled Domestic Flight |
| Departure airport: | Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO/FOLLOW), Ecuador |
| Arrival airport: | Cuenca Airport (CUE/SECU), Ecuador |
| Flight number: | EQ173 |
Description: The flight 173 from TAME Ecuador, a boeing 737-200, hit a hillside and crashed near Cuenca Airport (CUE), Ecuador. The 119 on board died. The plane was approaching Cuenca in clear weather with patches of fog near the airport.
The controller cleared the flight for an instrument approach to the runway 23. flight crew, However, decided to make a direct visual landing. After crossing the El Tablón VOR they had the runway in sight and continued the approach. Since then, the GPWS started ringing: '¡Terrain, ground, pull up!’.
The pilots did not respond to these warnings and continued the approach.. In the meantime, the first officer suggested selecting flaps to 40 degrees and descend to 8700 pies, which was below the minimum altitude of 9500 feet for that area. The aircraft descended rapidly to about 1500 pies/min. During the descent the plane entered the clouds. The flight crew probably focused on gaining visual contact with the ground., not paying attention to altitude. The aircraft descended until it impacted the ground at 8548 feet when it struck the top of a mountain with its tail and crashed in a mountainous area at approximately 1 track mile.
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There is the possibility of publishing the official DGAC report?
It would be from the JIA, but if you have it there, you can send it to me [email protected].
I perfectly remember that fateful day , the press , the television all the news programs talked about that , The headline of Glance magazine said "The plane that never crashed" , lamentable.
what a unique headline, what did they refer to?