What happened
On the morning of December 7, 1983, at approximately 09:39, a collision occurred on runway 01/19 at Madrid-Barajas Airport involving two commercial airliners. The first aircraft, an Iberia Boeing 727-256, registered as EC-CFJ, was performing its takeoff roll for flight IB350 bound for Rome. The aircraft had reached its V1 decision speed when it encountered the second aircraft on the runway.
The second aircraft, an Aviaco DC-9-32 with registration EC-CGS, was operating flight AO134 toward Santander. This aircraft had been instructed to taxi to the runway 01 holding point via the outer taxiway. During the maneuver, the DC-9 entered the active runway, leading to a high-speed impact.
The collision triggered an immediate fire. The DC-9-32 was completely destroyed by the impact and subsequent flames, resulting in 42 fatalities (5 crew members and 37 passengers). The Iberia Boeing 727-256 sustained severe damage, losing nearly its entire left wing and the associated main landing gear. After striking the DC-9, the Boeing aircraft slid approximately 460 meters along the runway before coming to a halt on the left edge of runway 01. The fire caused by leaking fuel from the damaged wing also led to 51 fatalities (50 passengers and one cabin crew member) on the larger aircraft. In total, 34 passengers and 8 crew members survived the disaster.
Findings
The investigation identified that the primary factor was the unauthorized entry of the DC-9 onto runway 01/19 while the Iberia flight was accelerating for takeoff. At the time of the accident, visibility at the airport was characterized by daylight obscured by heavy fog. This dense fog prevented the crew of the taxiing aircraft from maintaining proper visual references, which led them to mistakenly enter the active runway instead of following the correct taxi route to the threshold.