Mexicana Flight 940
Encyclopedia
Flight 940 was operating its scheduled flight route Mexico City
-Puerto Vallarta
-Mazatlán
-Los Angeles
operated by Mexicana Airlines (Compañia Mexicana de Aviación).
On March 31, 1986, the flight departed from Mexico City utilizing a Boeing 727
-264 registered as XA-MEM. Fifteen minutes into the morning flight, the plane crashed into a mountain named El Carbón in the rugged Sierra Madre Oriental
mountain range of central Mexico.
with stopovers in Puerto Vallarta
and Mazatlán
.
, Michoacán
. Eyewitnesses reported details of the crash to authorities. All 167 passengers and crew were killed instantly. After the crash, some townspeople stole items that belonged to the victims. The local police and the Mexican army were called and the crash site was closed to unauthorized people so that investigations could begin.
and Mexican aeronautical authorities, who found that the cause of the accident was due to the center landing gear tire being filled with compressed air, instead of nitrogen
. In addition, the tire had some marks of overheating. The investigators later found that the overheating was caused by a malfunctioning brake on the landing gear.
Mexicana maintenance personnel were blamed for negligence in maintaining the 727 and for filling the tire with regular compressed air, instead of nitrogen. The crash remains the deadliest airline disaster in Mexican history and is the world's worst air disaster involving the Boeing 727. The cause of the in-flight fire remains unknown.
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
-Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...
-Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
-Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
operated by Mexicana Airlines (Compañia Mexicana de Aviación).
On March 31, 1986, the flight departed from Mexico City utilizing a Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
-264 registered as XA-MEM. Fifteen minutes into the morning flight, the plane crashed into a mountain named El Carbón in the rugged Sierra Madre Oriental
Sierra Madre Oriental
The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico.-Setting:Spanning the Sierra Madre Oriental runs from Coahuila south through Nuevo León, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volcánico...
mountain range of central Mexico.
History
The plane, nicknamed "Veracruz", was piloted by Captain Carlos Guadarrama Sixto, an experienced Mexicana captain with 15,000 hours of flying experience. The crew of seven included five flight attendants, one of whom was the wife of the captain. 159 passengers were on board. At 8:50 in the morning, the plane took off from Benito Juárez International Airport en route to Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
with stopovers in Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...
and Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
.
Crash
At 9:05 in the morning, an explosion shattered the fuselage. Captain Guadarrama and the crew in the cockpit, realizing that the plane was shaking too much, declared an emergency to the air traffic controller and asked to return to Benito Juárez International Airport for an emergency landing. The airport was prepared for the landing, but before reaching its destination the plane broke in two, burst into flames and crashed on El Carbón mountain near the town of MaravatíoMaravatío
Maravatío is a municipality in the Mexican state of Michoacán, representing 1.17% of its land area, or 691.55 km2.- Etymology :The modern word Maravatío comes from the P'urhépecha word Marhabatio, meaning a precious place or thing....
, Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
. Eyewitnesses reported details of the crash to authorities. All 167 passengers and crew were killed instantly. After the crash, some townspeople stole items that belonged to the victims. The local police and the Mexican army were called and the crash site was closed to unauthorized people so that investigations could begin.
Investigation and aftermath
Initially, two Middle Eastern terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the crash. An anonymous letter signed by those groups claimed that a suicide mission had sabotaged the plane in retaliation against the United States.. However, sabotage was later dismissed as a cause of the crash. The investigations were carried out by the U.S. National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
and Mexican aeronautical authorities, who found that the cause of the accident was due to the center landing gear tire being filled with compressed air, instead of nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
. In addition, the tire had some marks of overheating. The investigators later found that the overheating was caused by a malfunctioning brake on the landing gear.
Mexicana maintenance personnel were blamed for negligence in maintaining the 727 and for filling the tire with regular compressed air, instead of nitrogen. The crash remains the deadliest airline disaster in Mexican history and is the world's worst air disaster involving the Boeing 727. The cause of the in-flight fire remains unknown.