What happened
During a recent flight operation, a Casa 212 operated by the Venezuelan Navy crashed into a mountain slope approximately 55 km from the Mérida-Alberto Carimata Airport. The aircraft was navigating through heavy cloud cover when it struck terrain. The incident resulted in 22 fatalities and 1 injury.
Prior to the impact, the flight crew had been instructed by air traffic control to divert to Mérida-Alberto Carnevalli Airport due to deteriorating weather conditions. The aircraft was traveling through low visibility at the time of the collision.
Findings
- The aircraft encountered poor weather conditions and heavy cloud cover during the flight.
- The impact occurred while the aircraft was in the cruise phase of flight.
- The single survivor of the crash was the co-pilot, who had also been involved in a separate aviation accident involving the same aircraft type just days earlier.