Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518
A Santa Bárbara Airlines ATR 42-300 similar to the one involved.
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| Accident summary | |
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| Date | 21 February 2008 |
| Summary | Pilot error caused by disorientation, failure to use checklist, Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site |
Venezuela 8°39′33″N 71°14′17″W / 8.65917°N 71.23806°WCoordinates: 8°39′33″N 71°14′17″W / 8.65917°N 71.23806°W |
| Passengers | 43 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 46 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | ATR 42-300 |
| Operator | Santa Bárbara Airlines |
| Registration | YV1449 |
| Flight origin | Alberto Carnevalli Airport, Mérida, Venezuela |
| Destination | Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas, Venezuela |
 "ATR-42-300 YV1449" pictures from jetphotos.net
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"ATR-42-300 YV1449" pictures from myaviation.net
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Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 was an ATR 42–300 twin-turboprop aircraft, registration YV1449, operating as a scheduled domestic flight from Mérida, Venezuela to Caracas that crashed into the side of a mountain on 21 February 2008, shortly after takeoff. There were 43 passengers on board, with a crew consisting of two pilots and a flight attendant. The wreckage was discovered a day later with no survivors. It had the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving an ATR 42 until Trigana Air Service Flight 267 crashed in Papua, Indonesia, on 16 August 2015 with 54 deaths.
Mérida, a university and tourist town located high in the Andes mountains, is surrounded by higher terrain with night flights prohibited at the nearby Alberto Carnevalli Airport. On 21 February 2008, Flight 518 was the last scheduled flight out of the airport, departing at about 17:00 local time. On the flight deck was Captain Aldino Garanito Gomez (36), a senior pilot for the airline and flight instructor with more than 5,000 flight hours logged, and First Officer Denis Ferreira Quintal (29). Shortly after take-off, the ATR 42–300 twin-turboprop slammed into a sheer 13,000-foot (4,000 m) rock wall called "Indian Face" (Spanish: La Cara del Indio). No distress calls were received from the aircraft prior to impact.
Antonio Rivero, national director of civil defense, said rescuers had identified the site of the crash in the south-western state of Mérida. Unión Radio cited civil defense regional chief, Gerardo Rojas, as saying that rescue crews were racing to the poorly-accessible crash site in the Andes Mountains. Mountain villagers reported hearing a tremendous noise they thought could be from a crash soon after the disappearance and loss of contact with Flight 518. According to local police, the wreckage of the aircraft was located at Páramo de Mucuchíes, in the sector of Collao del Cóndor, Páramo Piedra Blanca, near the Laguna de la Perlada. The search operation was conducted from the regional hub city of Barinas in western Venezuela.
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Wikipedia