Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428

Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 was a passenger flight which crashed near Los Menucos, Argentina, on 18 May 2011, killing all 22 people on board. The aircraft involved, a Saab 340, was operating Sol Líneas Aéreas' scheduled domestic service from Neuquén to Comodoro Rivadavia.[1][2][3][4][5]

Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428
LV-CEJ, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date18 May 2011 (2011-05-18)
SummaryCrashed following stall in severe icing conditions
SiteApprox. 30 km SW of Los Menucos, Río Negro, Argentina
41°05′16″S 067°56′53″W
Aircraft
Aircraft typeSaab 340A
OperatorSol Líneas Aéreas
IATA flight No.OSL 5428
RegistrationLV-CEJ
Flight originRosario – Islas Malvinas International Airport, Rosario, Argentina
1st stopoverIngeniero Aeronáutico Ambrosio L.V. Taravella International Airport, Córdoba, Argentina
2nd stopoverGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport, Mendoza, Argentina
3rd stopoverPresidente Perón International Airport, Neuquén, Argentina
DestinationGeneral Enrique Mosconi International Airport, Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
Occupants22
Passengers19
Crew3
Fatalities22
Survivors0

The following investigation concluded that severe airframe icing had led to a loss of control from which the crew was unable to recover.[6] The crash is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Saab 340.[7]

History of the flight

Flight 5428 had taken off from Rosario International Airport at 17:35 local time (20:35 UTC) on 18 May bound for Comodoro Rivadavia Airport. The service was scheduled to stop over at Córdoba, Mendoza and Neuquén. After completing uneventfully the first three segments, the Saab 340 took off from Presidente Perón International Airport in Neuquén at 20:05 for its final leg.[8]

At around 20:29, while climbing toward its assigned flight level FL190 (19,000 ft), the aircraft encountered icing conditions and levelled off at 17,800 ft, continuing at this altitude for approximately 9 minutes. With icing conditions persisting, the crew initiated a descent to FL140, but during the following 7 minutes, icing conditions significantly worsened. Control of the aircraft was lost shortly after, and the Saab 340 impacted the ground in a remote region of the Río Negro Province, between the villages of Los Menucos and Prahuaniyeu.[8]

The aircraft was flying at night, in instrument meteorological conditions and in an area without VHF radio coverage. A mayday call was received by the crew of a business jet flying in the area shortly before Flight 5428 was lost. Local people around 2 kilometres (1.2 mi; 1.1 nmi) away from the crash site saw an airplane flying extremely low. A few moments later they heard explosions and noticed black smoke coming from the ground.[9] Firefighters arrived at the scene three hours later, finding no survivors.[10][11]

Aircraft and crew

The plane involved in the accident was a 26-year-old Saab 340A twin-turboprop. It was delivered to Comair in 1985 and registered N344CA. In 1997, it became N112PX with Northwest Express. It retained the same registration when it went to the Puerto Rican carrier Fina Air in 2003, and later on, when it went to fly for RegionsAir in 2006. The airplane was stored by this latter airline in 2007 before being bought by Sol Líneas Aéreas in July 2010.[12]

The flight crew consisted of Captain Juan Raffo (45), who had 6,902 flight hours (2,181 in the Saab 340), First Officer Adriano Bolatti (37), who had 1,340 flight hours, 285 of which were in the Saab 340 and one flight attendant.[8][13]

Passengers

One of the passengers was a child, while the rest were adults.[14] Nine passengers boarded the airplane in Mendoza, nine in Neuquén, and one in Córdoba.[13] One of the passengers used a passport for identification purposes at the check-in desk, while the rest used Argentine Documento Nacional de Identidad (DNI) identity documents.[15] All of the passengers had Comodoro Rivadavia as their final destination, except for one of them, who flew from Córdoba to Mendoza.[16]

Investigation

The aircraft's flight recorders were recovered two days after the crash.[17][18] The Argentinian Junta de Investigaciones de Accidentes de Aviación Civil (JIAAC) opened an investigation into the accident. In September 2011, a preliminary report was issued which stated that the cause of the accident was a stall due to severe airframe icing and subsequent loss of control.[6]

The JIAAC published its final report in March 2015, confirming the findings of the preliminary report. No evidence of technical defects in the aircraft was found. It was determined that the icing conditions encountered were so severe that the aircraft's de-icing systems were overwhelmed. However, it was also noted that engine power and airspeed management by the flight crew was inadequate; in particular, the engines were never set to full power and the airspeed was allowed to decay until the aircraft stalled.[8] It was also determined that the weather reports that the crew received called for minor icing, and thus they were not prepared for the conditions that they actually encountered.[8]:76

The JIAAC described the crew's stall recovery technique as inappropriate for the given flight conditions, and issued several safety recommendations to aviation authorities and organisations, calling for more advanced pilot training in aircraft upset recovery, incipient stall recognition and stall recovery.[8]

The accident is featured in the sixth episode of Season 20 of Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation. The episode is titled "Icy Descent".[19]

See also

References
  1. "Timeline: Worst air accidents in Argentina". Buenos Aires Herald. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  2. "Argentina plane crash kills all 22 people on board". BBC News. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  3. "Tragedia aérea en la Patagonia: hay 22 muertos, entre ellos un bebé" [Air tragedy in the Patagonia: a baby is counted among the 22 deaths] (in Spanish). infobae.com. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  4. "Mueren 22 personas al estrellarse un avión en el sur de Argentina" [22 people die after an aircraft crash in southern Argentina] (in Spanish). El País. EFE. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  5. "Argentine plane crash kills 22". USA Today. Associated Press. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  6. Hradecky, Simon. "Crash: Sol SF34 near Los Menucos on May 18th 2011, severe icing, stall, loss of control". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  7. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Saab 340A LV-CEJ Prahuaniyeu, RN". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  8. Technical Report 096/2011 - Accident that occurred on 18 May 2011 Aircraft Saab 340A, LV-CEJ. Location: Caltrauna, between Los Menucos and Prahuaniyeu, province of Río Negro (PDF) (Report). Junta de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación Civil. 11 March 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  9. "Escuché cinco explosiones después del impacto en la tierra" [I heard five explosions after the crash] (in Spanish). infobae.com. 20 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  10. Warren, Michael. "Argentina: Patagonia Plane Crash Kills 22." Associated Press at TIME. Thursday 19 May 2011. Retrieved on Thursday 19 May 2011.
  11. "Tragedia en Río Negro: cayó un avión con 22 personas y no hay sobrevivientes". Clarín. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  12. "Operators of the aircraft". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  13. "Passenger list of flight SOL5428". Buenos Aires Herald. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  14. Quinones, Nelson (19 May 2011). "Plane crash kills 22 in Argentina". CNN News. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  15. "Press Release #3" (Press release). Sol Líneas Aéreas. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011.
  16. "La afortunada pasajera que se bajó del avión antes del accidente" [The fortunate passenger that got down from the aircraft before the accident] (in Spanish). infobae.com. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  17. "Authorities locate Flight 5428's black box at the crash site". Buenos Aires Herald. 18 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  18. Uphoff, Rainer (20 May 2011). "Investigators retrieve crashed Sol Saab's flight recorders". Flightglobal. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014.
  19. Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 at IMDb
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