Surinam Airways Flight 764

Surinam Airways Flight 764

N1809E, the aircraft involved in the accident, in February 1989.
Accident summary
Date	7 June 1989
Summary	Pilot error and CFIT
Site	Paramaribo, Suriname
Passengers	178
Crew	9
Fatalities	176
Injuries (non-fatal)	11
Survivors	11
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62
Operator	Surinam Airways
Registration	N1809E
Flight origin	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam, Netherlands
Destination	Johan Adolf Pengel Int'l Airport Paramaribo, Suriname

Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June 1989 the flight crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij, killing 176 of the 187 on board. It is the deadliest aviation disaster in Suriname's history.

Investigation revealed significant deficiencies in the crew's training and judgement. They knowingly attempted to land using an inappropriate navigation signal and ignored alarms warning them of an impending crash. The safety issues stemming from the incident were of such concern that the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The aircraft was a four-engined McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62 passenger jet which had first flown in 1969 as part of the air fleet of Braniff International Airways. An NTSB brief shows that while the aircraft was owned by Braniff it was involved in a minor accident in 1979 in which there were no fatalities. The aircraft was sold to Surinam Airways shortly afterwards. The official report into the crash of Flight 764 made no indication that this previous incident contributed in any way to the subsequent fatal crash.

The flight departed Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as scheduled at 23:25 on 6 June. The next ten hours of the flight passed uneventfully. The crew received a final weather report and clearance for a VOR/DME (VHF omnidirectional range/Distance Measuring Equipment) approach to runway 10 but instead initiated an ILS (Instrument Landing System/Distance Measuring Equipment) landing. During the approach, the plane's No. 2 engine struck a tree at a height of approximately 25 meters above ground level. The right wing then struck another tree, causing the aircraft to roll and impact the ground inverted. Of the 9 crew and 178 passengers, none of the crew and only 11 passengers survived, leaving 176 dead.