What happened
During the final approach phase at Mérida-Licenciado Manuel Crecencio Rejon Airport, a four-engine aircraft experienced an aerodynamic stall. The incident occurred just a short distance before reaching the runway threshold, resulting in the aircraft impacting the ground. The impact led to the total destruction of the airframe. While there were no fatalities, all 29 occupants sustained injuries during the accident.
Findings
Investigations into the crash identified several critical errors made by the flight crew. A primary contributing factor was a lack of effective coordination between the pilots during the approach sequence. This breakdown in communication led to a failure to adhere to the established approach checklist. Specifically, one of the pilots accidentally engaged the reverse thrust system while the aircraft was still at a low airspeed. This action contributed to the loss of airspeed, causing the plane to stall at an altitude too low for the crew to perform any corrective maneuvers.