PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216
	F-GTDI, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date	21 December 1999
Summary	Runway overrun
Site	La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Total fatalities	18 (2 on ground)
Total injuries	57 (20 on ground)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Operator	Cubana de Aviación leased from AOM French Airlines
IATA flight No.	CU1216
Call sign	CUBANA 216
Registration	F-GTDI
Flight origin	José Martí International Airport, Havana, Cuba
Destination	La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Occupants	314
Passengers	296
Crew	18
Fatalities	16
Injuries	37
Survivors	298
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	2
Ground injuries	20

Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that overran the runway at La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala City, on 21 December 1999. 8 passengers and 8 crew members on board were killed as well as 2 people on the ground.^[1]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, registration F-GTDI, leased by Cubana de Aviación from AOM French Airlines. It was just over 27 years old and had flown 85,760 hours at the time of the accident.^[2]^[3]^[4] It had been previously owned by Air Afrique with registration TU-TAL and was involved in the hijacking of Air Afrique Flight 056.^[5]

The captain was 54-year-old Jorge Toledo, who had been a DC-10 captain since 1993 and was flying for Cubana de Aviación since 1972. He had 16,117 flight hours, including 4,872 hours on the DC-10. The first officer was 41-year-old Cecelio Hernandez, who had been a DC-10 first officer since 1993 and was flying for Cubana de Aviación since 1978. He had previously been a captain of the Yakovlev Yak-42 aircraft. Hernandez had 8,115 flight hours, with 4,156 of them on the DC-10. The 59-year-old flight engineer was the most experienced member of the crew; had been a DC-10 flight engineer since 1992 and was flying for Cubana de Aviación since 1966. and logging 22,819 flight hours, including 4,939 on the DC-10.^[1]^: 5–8^[6]

Accident

Flight 1216 was a special charter transporting Guatemalan students home from universities in Cuba.^[7] The aircraft took off from José Martí International Airport in Cuba with 296 passengers and 18 crew on board.^[2] After a two-hour flight, the aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 19 at La Aurora International Airport. On landing, the pilots were unable to stop the aircraft and it ran off the end of the runway and down a slope, crashing into ten houses. The accident killed 18 people in all: 8 passengers and 8 crew members on board the aircraft, and 2 occupants of the houses.^[1] There were 288 passengers and 10 crew who survived; however, 37 passengers and crew and another 20 people on the ground were injured in the accident.^[1] The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off.^[2]

The crash occurred in the La Libertad neighborhood. One cockpit flight crew member was among the dead. Also among the dead was stewardess Johanna Toledo, who was the captain's daughter.^[7]^[8]

Cause

The accident was investigated by the Accident Investigation Section (Spanish: Sección de Investigación de Accidentes) of Guatemala's General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (Spanish: Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil). The investigation found that the aircraft touched down too far along the wet runway with insufficient deceleration, and that the crew had failed to initiate a go-around. The spoilers were found in the down and locked position, while the flight data recorder (FDR) showed them deployed. The handle for the spoilers in the cockpit was found in an undefined position. The reason for this discrepancy was not determined by the accident investigation.^[1]