Tan-Sahsa Flight 414

The aircraft was a Boeing 727-224, registered as N88705, leased from Continental Airlines, and first flown in 1968. It was delivered to Tan-Sahsa in 1981.[4]

Wreckage of the flight 414 in "Cerro de Hula"

The flight crew of 414 consisted of 34-year-old Captain Raúl Argueta, 26-year-old First Officer Reiniero Canales and Flight Engineer Marco Figueroa, three employed at Tan-Sahsa.

Tegucigalpa ATC cleared the flight for the VOR/DME approach to runway 01. Because of high terrain in the area, the approach uses a series of three step-downs from the initial approach fix of 7500 feet MSL.[4] The crew began a continuous descent from about 7600 ft MSL at about 11 NM from the airport, rather than following the prescribed step-down procedure, which led to the accident site.[4] The aircraft's descent profile was well below the published step-down course for the entire approach. The aircraft impacted a mountain known as Cerro de Hula at the 4800 ft MSL elevation, approximately 800 ft below the summit, 4.8 NM from the Tegucigalpa runway 01 threshold.[5] At impact, the aircraft was in approach configuration.[4]

The plane broke into three sections. The first part (Cockpit, First Class), contained almost all of the survivors of the accident,[6] due to the close-to-stall, nose high configuration at impact.

While the National Transportation Safety Board and the Civil Aviation Authority of Honduras were investigating the crash, Argueta, Canales and Figueroa were charged with manslaughter and negligence and went to trial. However, the case was never resolved.[7] Five months later another aircraft, an L-188 Electra operated by Sahsa Carga registered as HR-TNL, crashed close to Flight 414's crash site, with a similar cause, making it the third accident by Sahsa in six months.[8] Due to its bad safety history and corruption, Tan-Sahsa went into bankruptcy in the 1990s, and ceased operations in 1994.

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network