Accident Sequence
At 1718 local time, the crew began takeoff from Runway 07 at Puerto Carreño-Germán Olano Airport, which has a length of 1,800 meters. The takeoff roll was prolonged, and the aircraft overran the runway. It continued rolling for about 95 meters, colliding with two perimeter fences and crossing a road before becoming airborne. During the initial climb, the right main landing gear was torn off after hitting a tree, and engine number 3 failed. The airplane climbed to an altitude of 790 feet, then entered a right turn and ultimately crashed into an open field 7.5 kilometers from the airport, bursting into flames. The flight engineer sustained serious injuries, and five other occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation identified the following findings as probable causes: inadequate flight planning by the operator and crew, including failure to properly perform dispatch procedures, takeoff performance calculations, and verification of limitations imposed by operational conditions of the aerodrome according to the aircraft's configuration; wrong crew decision making by not considering a key aspect affecting aircraft performance, such as the prevailing tailwind at takeoff; erroneous selection of takeoff speeds V1/VR and V2, corresponding to an aircraft without modification in its flap system, which led to rotation with five extra knots, increasing the takeoff run; erroneous rotation technique by the pilot, a delayed maneuver that extended the long takeoff run further; loss of components (landing gear, trailing inboard flap right) and damage to functional systems (loss of engine number 3 and hydraulic system) necessary for flight control; and loss of control in flight generated by asymmetries of lift, power, and emptying of the main hydraulic systems that exceeded the crew's capacity and made it impossible to maintain adequate directional control and stability.
Contributing factors included: non-compliance with aeronautical regulations by the operating company, operating to an aerodrome unsuitable for the B727-200 equipment, which was not authorized in the company's Operating Specifications; lack of standardization and supervision by the operator, allowing operation of the B727-200 with a flap system modification while using speed reference tables for the unmodified aircraft; execution of takeoff with a weight exceeding the maximum value in performance charts for the airport conditions; omission of the crew in not activating the Standby hydraulic system, which might have provided emergency hydraulic pressure to regain control; and lack of supervision by the aeronautical authority, which permitted the operation of B727-200 aircraft by that company at Germán Olano airport for several years despite the aerodrome's characteristics not allowing it and the operator not being authorized.