Aeronor Flight 304
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 9, 1982 |
| Summary | Engine failure |
| Site | Near La Florida Airport, La Serena |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Fairchild F-27 |
| Operator | Aeronor Chile |
| Registration | CC-CJE |
| Flight origin | Los Cerrillos Airport, Santiago, Chile |
| Destination | Cerro Moreno International Airport, Antofagasta |
| Passengers | 42 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 46 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Aeronor Flight 304 was an aircraft that crashed on December 9, 1982 near La Florida Airport, in the Chilean city of La Serena. All 46 people onboard the aircraft were killed.[1]
Accident
A Fairchild F-27 of Aeronor Chile was flying from Santiago to Antofagasta, with stops in La Serena and Copiapó.
The plane took off from Santiago at 09:40 (UTC−4), spotting the city of La Serena at 10:25. A few minutes before it was scheduled to land at La Florida Airport, the aircraft suffered a malfunction in one of its motors. After this, at 10:29, the plane crashed into a stone wall located in the area called "Parcela Seis" (Lot Six) at Alfalfares, located approximately 800 meters northeast of the local air terminal. It is estimated that the plane crashed at a speed of 180 km/h.
After the aircraft crashed, it burned almost completely. The fire companies of La Serena and Coquimbo responded to the tragedy, with police and local hospitals personnel. Only the tail was almost complete, with the rest of the airplane completely burned. The 46 occupants were killed almost immediately.
Initially, the accident was mistaken for an airline emergency drill at the airport in La Serena which had developed a few hours before the tragedy. However, a team of Canal 8 UCV TV, who was shooting scenes of the simulation, managed to capture the Aeronor plane on fire shortly after falling to earth. The images were broadcast that night on the local news programme, and were subsequently broadcast nationally on Teletrece, the newscast of Canal 13. Similarly, a team from the local newspaper El Día conducted an extensive display, which culminated in the publication the day after of extensive journalistic and graphic material about the tragedy.[2]
Victims
 |
The four crew members of the plane were pilot Jorge Erlandsen, co-pilot Mario Franjola, and hostesses Marta Martínez and Elisa Palacios. The 42 passengers were 22 men and 20 women.
Among those killed was a journalist from the newspaper La Tercera, Silvia Pinto, with an extensive background in Chilean press. Two American nuns were also killed, both belonging to the Maryknoll congregation.
References
- ^ "46 muertos al estrellarse un avión en Chile" (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: El País. EFE. 10 December 1992. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013.
- ^ Armando Tapia (2008). "Canal 8: Desclasificando los archivos de la primera señal regional". El Día (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 9, 2011.
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