8 Feb 1989: Boeing 707-331B — Independent Air

144 fatalities • 7 km E of Santa Maria-Vila do Porto Airport, Azores (SMA)

Accident narrative

On 8 February 1989, Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707 on an American charter flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, struck Pico Alto while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores for a scheduled stopover. The aircraft was destroyed, with the loss of all 144 people on board, resulting in the deadliest plane crash in Portugal's history. All of the passengers on board were Italian and all of the crew were Americans. The crash is also known as "The disaster of the Azores".

Contributing factors

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Investigation report by Wikidata contributors. Original record: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q613025. This page is a structured re-presentation; facts and quotes are in the CC0 (Wikidata).

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