Avianca Flight 052
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 25, 1990 |
| Summary | Fuel Exhaustion, Pilot Error |
| Site | Cove Neck, New York |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-321 |
| Operator | Avianca |
| Registration | HK-2016 |
| Flight origin | El Dorado International Airport |
| Last stopover | José María Córdova International Airport |
| Destination | John F. Kennedy International Airport |
| Passengers | 149 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 73 |
| Injuries | 85 |
| Survivors | 85 |
Avianca Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport via Medellín, Colombia's José María Córdova International Airport. On Thursday, January 25, 1990, the aircraft performing this flight, a Boeing 707-321B registered as HK-2016, crashed into the town of Cove Neck, Long Island, New York after running out of fuel. 73 out of the 158 passengers and crew on board were killed.
The last minutes of Flight 52
On January 25, 1990, Avianca Flight 52 had been in a holding pattern over New York for over one hour due to fog limiting arrivals and departures into John F. Kennedy International Airport. During this hold, the aircraft was exhausting its reserve fuel supply which would have allowed it to divert to Boston in case of an emergency or situation such as this one.
Around 77 minutes after it had begun holding, New York Air Traffic Control asked the crew how long they could continue to hold, to which the first officer replied "...about five minutes." The First Officer then stated that their alternate was Boston, but since they had been holding for so long they would not be able to make it anymore; the controller then cleared the aircraft into runway 22L.
As Flight 52 flew the approach, they encountered wind shear at lower than 500 feet (≈ 150 metres) and the plane descended below the altitude needed to safely descend into the runway. Air traffic controllers had only informed the flight of wind shear at 1500 feet (≈ 450 metres) and not at lower altitude. This forced the crew to announce a missed approach, yet, at this point, the plane did not have enough fuel to make another approach.
The crew alerted the controller that they were low on fuel and in a subsequent transmission stated "We're running out of fuel, sir." The controller asked the crew to climb to which the first officer replied "No, sir, we're running out of fuel."
Moments later, the number four engine shut off, quickly followed by the other three. With the aircraft's power supply now drained, the cabin's lights shut off and the aircraft was plunged into darkness. Within seconds, the entire aircraft had lost all power, causing it to plunge into the small village of Cove Neck, New York in northern Long Island, 15 miles (24 kilometres) from the airport.
The aircraft struck and slid down a hill in the town, splitting into two pieces as it reached the bottom. The impact flung the cockpit into a nearby building. Due to the lack of jet fuel, the aircraft did not burst into flames, probably saving the lives of the 85 survivors. In the aftermath, 73 passengers and crew lay dead, and another 85 had been injured.
Recovery
The recovery efforts for Flight 52 proved to be difficult since the aircraft had crashed in an area that was hard for emergency crews to reach. The weather conditions and the darkness of night made the search crews' task even more challenging. In addition, the cockpit had snapped off and landed over 100 feet (≈ 30 metres) away in the side of an unoccupied house.
Cause and Investigation
The NTSB report on the accident determined the cause as pilot error due to the crew never declaring a fuel emergency to air traffic control as per IATA guidelines. The crew was reported to have asked for "priority" landing which, due to language differences in English and Spanish, can be interpreted as an emergency to the Spanish speaking pilots but not to the English speaking Air Traffic Controllers. This may have caused some confusion amongst the pilots when the ATC confirmed their priority status. Some NTSB board members felt that ATC was negligent in not providing arriving aircraft with the latest wind shear information which may have alerted the crew to possible difficulties in landing. Avianca Airlines threatened to sue the FAA for the actions of the air controllers, who they felt were negligent in misunderstanding the pilots reports. The FAA countered stating that the crew never declared a fuel emergency until the final minutes before the crash, and had never reported the amount of fuel they had left when asking for priority landing, making it impossible for air traffic controllers to give them correct priority status. It was also determined that the crew never attempted to divert to the alternate destination of Boston despite being aware they would be in a holding pattern for up to forty-five minutes, though this may have been due to the fact the pilots misunderstood their priority confirmation. After some deliberations, a settlement was reached where the FAA paid for 40% of the settlements with the passengers and their families; the rest was paid by Avianca.
Popular culture
- The episode Deadly Delay of the TV series Air Crash Investigation is dedicated to this crash.
- News footage of this accident was used to portray a fictional incident in the 2004 film, The Day After Tomorrow