Avianca

The crew departed Tumaco-La Florida Airport at 0825LT with an ETA in Cali at 0955LT. En route, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with a limited visibility due to rain falls. The airplane deviated from the prescribed flight plan when, at an altitude of 9,670 feet, it struck the slope of Mt Trujillo located in the region of Buenaventura, about 75 km northwest of Cali Airport. SAR operations were suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was found. Eventually, the wreckage was found in a ravine on October 31st 1974. All 27 occupants were killed.

The aircraft departed Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport at 1113LT on a 45 minutes flight to Yopal, carrying 14 passengers and a crew of three. On approach to Yopal, the pilots encountered poor visibility with fog when the airplane crashed on the slope of a hill (480 meters high) located few km from the airport. A passenger survived while 16 other occupants were killed.

The crew completed the approach and landing in heavy rain falls. The airplane landed 469 meters past the threshold on a very wet runway 10. After touchdown, the airplane veered to the left then contacted soft ground after a course of 312 meters and eventually crashed into several houses located in the district of San Gerardo. All 44 occupants were evacuated, among them seven were injured. The aircraft was written off. On the ground, three children aged 7, 11 and 12 were killed.

At 0620LT, an Avianca Douglas DC-3A registered HK-107 departed Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport on flight AV630 to Saravena via Paz de Ariporo and Arauca with 18 passengers and a crew of three on board. Two minutes later, at 0622LT, a second Avianca Douglas DC-3A registered HK-1341 departed the same airport on a service to Las Gaviotas via Yopal, Trinidad and Orocué with 14 passengers and a crew of tree on board. While cruising by night over the Las Palomas Mountain Range, both aircraft collided and crashed in a mountainous terrain located about 75 km north of Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport. Both aircraft were destroyed and all 38 occupants were killed.

At 0620LT, an Avianca Douglas DC-3A registered HK-107 departed Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport on flight AV630 to Saravena via Paz de Ariporo and Arauca with 18 passengers and a crew of three on board. Two minutes later, at 0622LT, a second Avianca Douglas DC-3A registered HK-1341 departed the same airport on a service to Las Gaviotas via Yopal, Trinidad and Orocué with 14 passengers and a crew of tree on board. While cruising by night over the Las Palomas Mountain Range, both aircraft collided and crashed in a mountainous terrain located about 75 km north of Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport. Both aircraft were destroyed and all 38 occupants were killed.

About three minutes after takeoff from Sogamoso-Alberto Lleras Camargo Airport, while climbing, the airplane stalled and crashed in a wasteland located 3 km from the airfield. A crew member survived while 17 other occupants were killed. The airplane was on a round trip from Sogamoso to Trinidad, Paz de Ariporo, Tablón de Tamará, Nunchía and return.

Flight 739 was a scheduled domestic flight from Bogotá-El Dorado Airport to Pasta-Cano Airport. It was scheduled to depart Bogotá at 0615 hours local time; however, when the crew reported to the Avianca operations office at 0550 hours they were advised that Eldorado Airport was closed owing to thick fog. The airport was reopened to operations at 0750 hours. At about 0830 hours Flight 729 was observed to have commenced taxiing and entered the runway system without having received a clearance to do so. The flight was then given instructions for Runway 30 but further transmissions on 121.9 mc/s were not acknowledged. The flight was subsequently contacted on 118.1 mc/s and the pilot stated he had confused instructions with those given to another aircraft. Take-off was made on runway 10 and when over the threshold of Runway 12 the aircraft commenced a very steep turn to the left in a nose-high attitude. Recovery was effected and the aircraft departed at 0838 hours on a VFR flight plan. After the take-off and climb the flight left the Bogota tower frequency and subsequently contacted Bogota Control and Route Control on 5589 Kc/s. The following position reports were received: 12 500 ft over Guataqui at 0842 hrs, over El Paso at 0902 hrs, over Tuluá at 0924 hrs; at 8 500 ft over Cali, at 0942 hrs, and at 8 500 it over Santander at 0948 hrs estimating Dos Rios at 1014 hrs. No position report for Dos Rios was received. The Tuluá position report was transmitted to Cali as follows: "Tuluá 0922 descending to 8 500, estimating Cali 0942". As the message was very weak the flight was requested to confirm its departure and position; it reported on route frequency 5476.5 KC/S its departure as 0825/38. The flight was then requested to change to VHF frequency 119.1 for radio contact when approaching Cali. It did so but as its signals were not heard it returned to the route frequency stating that it would remain on that frequency since it had not been able to establish contact on the VHF frequency. At 1030 hrs Cali requested information on the flight from Pasto, which reported that the flight had not arrived and there was no information about it. From 1030 hrs onwards the aircraft was called on all available frequencies but no reply was received. An alert phase was declared at 1100 hrs and followed by a distress phase at 1125 hrs. The wreckage of the aircraft was found on 3 January 1967 after 11 days of searching. It had crashed and caught fire at an elevation of approximately 11 600 ft on the southern slopes of Tajumbina Peak (elevation 13 572 ft) in the El Descanse Police Inspectorate. Coordinates of the site of accident were 1° 20' 30" N 76° 47' 30" W. The accident occurred at approximately 0956 hrs on 24 December 1966. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 29 occupants have been killed.

Flight 870 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight from Bogotá-El Dorado International Airport to Barranquilla-Soledad Airport. The aircraft took off from runway 30 at 0315 hours local time. According to some witnesses it appeared to lift off with difficulty opposite the control tower and when it reached the airport boundary the crew announced that they were returning to land. The Control Tower asked why they were returning but received no reply. After the accident tower control personnel stated that during take-off the noise of the engines was louder than usual, as if more than one engine was overspeeding, and that when the aircraft started to turn they observed a sudden flash following which they lost visual contact with the aircraft. Shortly thereafter the aircraft struck some trees 400 m from the "San Ramón" property, in a field belonging to the "Laguna Vieja" estate, between the roads leading to Funza and Engativá. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and both pilots were killed.

Shortly after takeoff from runway 36 at Cartagena-Crespo Airport, while climbing to a height of 70 feet, the airplane descended and eventually crashed into the sea some 1,310 meters past the runway end. All four crew members and 52 passengers were killed while eight others were rescued. The aircraft was destroyed.

While approaching Bucaramanga-Gomez Niño Airport from the north, the Dakota collided with a private Piper PA-18A Super Cub registered HK-922P. Following the collision, both aircraft dove into the ground and crashed near the Las Terrazas residential area. All 15 occupants on board the DC-3 and the pilot of the PA-18 were killed.