1972 Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crash

(Redirected from Spantax Flight 275) 1972 plane crash in Spain

1972 Spantax Convair CV-990 crash
Accident
EC-BZR, the aircraft involved in the accident
Date	3 December 1972 (1972-12-03)
Summary	Loss of control due to spatial disorientation
Site	Near Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport 28°29′1.33″N 16°20′36.20″W / 28.4837028°N 16.3433889°W / 28.4837028; -16.3433889
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado
Operator	Spantax
Registration	EC-BZR
Flight origin	Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport
Destination	München-Riem Airport
Occupants	155
Passengers	148
Crew	7
Fatalities	155
Survivors	0

On December 3, 1972, a Convair CV-990 Coronado charter flight operated by Spantax from Tenerife to Munich with 148 passengers and 7 crew crashed while taking off from Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, killing all 155 passengers and crew onboard. Many of the passengers were West German tourists heading home.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado registered as EC-BZR with MSN 30-10-25. The aircraft was equipped with four General Electric CJ805-23 engines.

Accident

The flight was chartered by the Landesverband Bayerischer Omnibusunternehmer, a community of Bavarian bus company owners. In command was Captain Daniel Núñez Ronda, a 32-year-old former Spanish Air Force pilot, who was accompanied by 36-year-old First Officer Francisco Javier Saavedra and 30-year-old Flight Engineer José Alberto Sanz. Conditions that morning were IFR with a reported visibility of about only 150 m (500 ft). The flight was cleared for take-off on runway 30 at 6:45 UTC. At 91 m (300 ft) the aircraft entered a steep bank and soon began to descend. The left wing hit the ground about 325 metres (1,066 ft) past the end of the runway, rupturing a fuel tank before the rest of the fuselage touched down. A massive explosion of the almost fully fueled tanks followed. All 155 people aboard were killed upon impact.

At the time, the accident was the deadliest aircraft crash on the island of Tenerife and the deadliest to take place in Spain until surpassed by the collision of two Boeing 747 aircraft at the same airport five years later. It was the eighth loss and deadliest accident involving a Convair 990 Coronado.

Investigation

The investigation was conducted by the Spanish Police’s air crash investigation council. German investigators also arrived, but were barred from investigating by the authorities. Due to the unstable political situation unfolding, authorities suspected a bomb could have brought the aircraft down. This was quickly dismissed after a close look determined no signature blast damage. A theory of engine failure was also dismissed early on. The investigators concluded that the captain had experienced a somatogyral illusion in the low visibility. The investigators also faulted the ATC controller for letting the aircraft take off in conditions it was not certified to fly in. The conditions were caused by clouds moving through the airport, a common problem. The board recommended that ATC should inform crews about the conditions via the newly developed ATIS, which was introduced about a year later. The council also recommended training on spatial illusions for Pilots.

References

^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
Gero, David (2009). Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 (5th ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: History. ISBN 9780752499925.
"AirDisaster.Com: Accident Photo: Spantax 990 Coronado". airdisaster.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04.
Kebabjian, Richard. "Accident details". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
"Timeline Airline Crashes and Airplane Bombings". timelines.ws. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
"Project-Tenerife.com, crash of the Convair at Tenerife". project-tenerife.com.

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 (1972)
Jan 7 Iberia Flight 602Jan 21 Turkish Airlines DC-9 crashJan 26 JAT Yugoslav Flight 367Feb 22 Lufthansa Flight 649Mar 3 Mohawk Airlines Flight 405Mar 14 Sterling Airways Flight 296Mar 19 EgyptAir Flight 763Apr 18 East African Airways Flight 720May 4 Aeroflot Flight B-608May 5 Alitalia Flight 112May 8 Sabena Flight 571May 16 Svetlogorsk An-24 crashMay 18 Aeroflot Flight 1491May 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570Jun 12 American Airlines Flight 96Jun 14 Japan Air Lines Flight 471Jun 15 Cathay Pacific Flight 700ZJun 18 British European Airways Flight 548Jun 24 Prinair Flight 191Jun 29 Lake Winnebago mid-air collisionJul 2 Pan Am Flight 841Jul 5 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710Jul 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 841Aug 14 Königs Wusterhausen disasterAug 16 Burma Airways Thandwe crashAug 31 Aeroflot Flight 558Sep 15 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130Sep 24 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Sep 24 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accidentOct 1 Aeroflot Flight 1036Oct 13 Aeroflot Flight 217Oct 13 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571Oct 27 Air Inter Flight 696YOct 29 Lufthansa Flight 615Oct 30 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 327Nov 10 Southern Airways Flight 49Nov 15 Ansett Australia Flight 232Nov 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 446Dec 3 Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crashDec 8 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708Dec 8 United Air Lines Flight 553Dec 8 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 631Dec 20 Chicago–O'Hare runway collisionDec 23 Braathens Flight 239Dec 29 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401Dec 31 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash
1971 ◄ ► 1973

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 (1972)

Jan 7 Iberia Flight 602Jan 21 Turkish Airlines DC-9 crashJan 26 JAT Yugoslav Flight 367Feb 22 Lufthansa Flight 649Mar 3 Mohawk Airlines Flight 405Mar 14 Sterling Airways Flight 296Mar 19 EgyptAir Flight 763Apr 18 East African Airways Flight 720May 4 Aeroflot Flight B-608May 5 Alitalia Flight 112May 8 Sabena Flight 571May 16 Svetlogorsk An-24 crashMay 18 Aeroflot Flight 1491May 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570Jun 12 American Airlines Flight 96Jun 14 Japan Air Lines Flight 471Jun 15 Cathay Pacific Flight 700ZJun 18 British European Airways Flight 548Jun 24 Prinair Flight 191Jun 29 Lake Winnebago mid-air collisionJul 2 Pan Am Flight 841Jul 5 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710Jul 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 841Aug 14 Königs Wusterhausen disasterAug 16 Burma Airways Thandwe crashAug 31 Aeroflot Flight 558Sep 15 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130Sep 24 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Sep 24 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accidentOct 1 Aeroflot Flight 1036Oct 13 Aeroflot Flight 217Oct 13 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571Oct 27 Air Inter Flight 696YOct 29 Lufthansa Flight 615Oct 30 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 327Nov 10 Southern Airways Flight 49Nov 15 Ansett Australia Flight 232Nov 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 446Dec 3 Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crashDec 8 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708Dec 8 United Air Lines Flight 553Dec 8 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 631Dec 20 Chicago–O'Hare runway collisionDec 23 Braathens Flight 239Dec 29 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401Dec 31 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash

1971 ◄ ► 1973

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Spain
Before 1970	Hubert Le Blon (April 1910) Aviaco SNCASE Languedoc crash (December 1958) Transair Douglas Dakota accident (August 1959) Iberia Flight 401 (May 1965)
1970s	Dan-Air Flight 1903 (July 1970) Iberia Flight 602 (January 1972) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 (September 1972) Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crash (December 1972) Aviaco Flight 118 (August 1973) Imperial Iranian Air Force Flight 48 (May 1976) Tenerife airport disaster (March 1977)
1980s	Dan-Air Flight 1008 (April 1980) Spantax Flight 995 (September 1982) Avianca Flight 011 (November 1983) Madrid runway disaster (December 1983) Iberia Flight 610 (February 1985)
1990s	Britannia Airways Flight 226A (September 1999)
2000s	Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261 (August 2001) Flightline Flight 101 (October 2001) Spanair Flight 5022 (August 2008)
2010s	2015 Seville Airbus A400M crash (May 2015)

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