Viasa Flight 897
Encyclopedia
Viasa
Flight 897 refers to an international scheduled Rome
–Madrid
–Lisbon
–Santa Maria
–Caracas
passenger service that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean
off the coast of Portugal
on , shortly after take-off from Portela Airport
. There were no survivors among the 61 occupants of the aircraft.
PH-DCL, owned by KLM and operated on Viasa's behalf. With constructor's number
45615/131, the airframe was the newest one of the type in KLM's fleet at the time the accident took place; it had entered service a few months earlier, and had actually accumulated 209 flight hours.
At the time the airliner lifted off from Lisbon at 01:15 UTC, the nighttime sky had a cloud base of 3700 feet (1,127.8 m). A few minutes after take off the DC-8 entered a spiral dive to the left shortly after sending two short messages to Air Traffic Control. The pilot over-corrected to the right and the aircraft struck the sea with a pitch angle of approximately 25° nose down.
The Netherlands, as state of registry for the aircraft, commented: "Though there are no direct indications in this respect, the Board regards it as possible that the accident was due to the pilot or pilots being misled by instrument
failure, in particular of the artificial horizon
, or to the pilot having been distracted, so that a serious deviation from the normal flight path was not discovered in time."
in 1977.
Viasa
Venezolana Internacional de Aviación Sociedad Anónima , or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan national airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launched in 1960, it was nationalised in 1975 due to financial problems, and re-privatised in 1991, with the...
Flight 897 refers to an international scheduled Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
–Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
–Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
–Santa Maria
Santa Maria Island
Santa Maria , Portuguese for Saint Mary, is an island located in the eastern group of the Azores archipelago and the southernmost island in the Azores...
–Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
passenger service that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
off the coast of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
on , shortly after take-off from Portela Airport
Portela Airport
Lisbon Portela Airport, also known as Lisbon Airport , is an international airport located north of Castle of São Jorge in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal...
. There were no survivors among the 61 occupants of the aircraft.
Aircraft
Named Fridtjof Nansen, the aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-8-53, registrationAircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
PH-DCL, owned by KLM and operated on Viasa's behalf. With constructor's number
Serial number
A serial number is a unique number assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value...
45615/131, the airframe was the newest one of the type in KLM's fleet at the time the accident took place; it had entered service a few months earlier, and had actually accumulated 209 flight hours.
Description
The crash of Viasa Flight 897 occurred on the third leg of a trip that originated in Rome, Italy and was scheduled to conclude in Caracas, Venezuela. Intermediate stops were to be made in Madrid, Spain, Lisbon, and on Santa Maria Island.At the time the airliner lifted off from Lisbon at 01:15 UTC, the nighttime sky had a cloud base of 3700 feet (1,127.8 m). A few minutes after take off the DC-8 entered a spiral dive to the left shortly after sending two short messages to Air Traffic Control. The pilot over-corrected to the right and the aircraft struck the sea with a pitch angle of approximately 25° nose down.
Investigation
The cause for the crash of Viasa Flight 897 was never determined by either Portuguese or Dutch authorities. The official report out of Portugal concluded "Notwithstanding a very thorough, time-consuming investigation, in which many authorities and experts co-operated, it was not possible to establish a probable cause of the accident."The Netherlands, as state of registry for the aircraft, commented: "Though there are no direct indications in this respect, the Board regards it as possible that the accident was due to the pilot or pilots being misled by instrument
Flight instruments
Flight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with information about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as height, speed and altitude...
failure, in particular of the artificial horizon
Attitude indicator
An attitude indicator , also known as gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is an instrument used in an aircraft to inform the pilot of the orientation of the aircraft relative to earth. It indicates pitch and bank or roll and is a primary instrument for flight in instrument meteorological conditions...
, or to the pilot having been distracted, so that a serious deviation from the normal flight path was not discovered in time."
Legacy
At the time it occurred, Flight 897 was the third fatal crash of a jetliner since they were introduced into service in 1958. It was the worst civilian aviation incident ever to take place in Portugal until the crash of TAP Portugal Flight 425TAP Portugal Flight 425
TAP Air Portugal Flight 425, tail number CS-TBR, was a Boeing 727 aircraft named Sacadura Cabral en route from Brussels, Belgium, to Madeira airport , Portugal, with an intermediate scheduled stop in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 19, 1977.Shortly before 9:48pm on that Saturday evening, after 13...
in 1977.
See also
- Graveyard spiralGraveyard spiralIn aviation, a graveyard spiral is a dangerous spiral dive entered into accidentally by a pilot who is not trained or not proficient in instrument flight when flying in instrument meteorological conditions...
- Spatial disorientationSpatial disorientationSpatial disorientation is the inability to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed, in relation to the Earth or point of reference. Spatial disorientation is a condition in which an aircraft pilot's perception of direction does not agree with reality...
- Sensory illusions in aviationSensory Illusions in AviationBecause human senses are adapted for use on the ground, navigating by sensory input alone during flight can be dangerous: sensory input does not always accurately reflect the movement of the aircraft, causing sensory illusions. These illusions can be extremely dangerous for pilots.-Vestibular...
- Other aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff, while turning above a dark ocean:
- Air India Flight 855Air India Flight 855Air India Flight 855 was a scheduled passenger flight that crashed during the evening of 1 January 1978 about off the coast of Bandra, Bombay , India. All 213 lives on board were lost...
- Flash Airlines Flight 604Flash Airlines flight 604Flash Airlines Flight 604 was a charter flight operated by Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines. On 3 January 2004, the Boeing 737-300 crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, killing all 142 passengers, many of them French tourists, and all six...
- Pan Am Flight 816Pan Am Flight 816Pan Am flight 816 was an international flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to Los Angeles, United States, via Tahiti, French Polynesia....
- Air India Flight 855