Accident Overview
On the day of the accident, the aircraft departed Santa Cecilia Airport, Bogotá at 0647 LT bound for Medellín and Quibdó, carrying a crew of 5 and 11 passengers. Take-off occurred while the airport was closed due to poor visibility. Shortly after take-off, while flying on instruments, the starboard engine failed. The aircraft continued for approximately 23 minutes, then crashed violently against Quetame Hill near Cáqueza, about 30 km southeast of Bogotá, at an elevation of 9,170 feet. The flight engineer and one passenger were injured; 14 other occupants were killed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the probable cause of the accident was a complete failure of the starboard engine due to the breakdown of the lubricating system.
Contributing Factors
Several contributing factors were identified: the pilot's recklessness in taking off from a closed airport while aware of poor weather conditions, which prevented a return to the departure airport after the engine failure; the aircraft being overloaded by 1,506 kg above the maximum gross operating weight for Bogotá; adverse weather conditions from take-off to the accident; an error of judgment by the company's Operations and Maintenance Sections in not conducting a test flight after the turbine section had been changed and in deeming aircraft HK-133 airworthy for a scheduled passenger flight under such conditions; the lack of competent air traffic and weather authorities at Santa Cecilia airport to enforce regulations and prohibit take-off from a closed airport; faulty internal organization within AIDA that failed to define the duties of the Maintenance Superintendent, Maintenance Chief, and Dispatcher; and the company's failure to have a spare engine available, which would have avoided hasty repair work.