What happened
On the evening of the accident, a Douglas DC-3C operated by LAN Chile was performing a scheduled domestic service from Castro to Santiago, including stops at Puerto Montt, Osorno, and Temuco. After departing Temuco at 18:30 local time, the aircraft was navigating via Airway 45 and 40 at an altitude of 8,500 feet.
During the flight, air traffic control instructed the crew to climb to 9,500 feet to maintain separation from other aircraft. At approximately 19:10, the crew requested a descent to 9,000 feet due to ice accumulation on the wings. This request was denied by controllers because of conflicting traffic on Airway 4. Following this, the flight was cleared to turn back onto Airway 45 and descend to 6,500 feet, passing over Curico before continuing toward the Santo Domingo beacon.
After losing radio contact with the aircraft, search operations were conducted for seven days. On April 10, investigators located the wreckage on Cerro La Gotera within the Sierra de las Ánimas range. The Douglas DC-3C had struck a mountainside approximately 50 meters below the summit at an elevation of roughly 3,500 meters while traveling in a south-westerly direction. The impact caused the debris to slide 14 meters before stopping.
Findings
Investigation of the wreckage site revealed that the aircraft was on a south-west heading at the time of impact. Because the plane was completely destroyed by fire, investigators could not determine the exact airspeed or altitude at the moment of the crash. While it was noted that the right engine appeared to be operating normally upon impact, researchers could not confirm if the left engine had experienced a failure. Ultimately, the wreckage and navigation instruments provided insufficient data to establish a definitive cause for the accident.