Aires Airlines crash update

Here's an update on the crash of Aires Flight 4C-8250 B737-700 aircraft during landing at the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport (ADZ), San Andres Island, Colombia. The plane crashed about 80 meters short of the 2300-meter runway at 01:50 AM local time of Monday morning, August 16. During the time of the crash, there were thunderstorms in the area. Reports said that there were multiple lightning strikes in the area, in fact, there were 11 lightning strikes within 10 kilometers from the runway during a 5-minute period.

The plane skidded on its belly and the fuselage broke into three sections with pieces of the landing gear and an engine breaking away from the plane.

Reports also said that the left wing fuel tank split open but there was no fire. This is the reason why the crew and the passengers except one escaped alive. Now it was reported that the lone fatality who died of a heart attack as initially stated, in fact, was killed by blows sustained during the crash, as revealed by an autopsy performed on the 72-year old woman. There was also another passenger, an 11-year old girl, who suffered a very severe brain injury and was in critical condition.

The B737-700 airplane has a registry no. HK-4682 and is one of the 4 B737-700s leased by Aires from AWAS. Aires Airlines is Colombia's 2nd largest airline after Avianca, which also operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q200s and Q400s.

Aires Airlines crash

Nothing on TV captures my attention more forcefully than the news about an airplane crash. And so it was on August 16, Monday when I heard the Aires airplane crash, the aircraft splitting into three sections upon landing on the runway. The news described it as a miraculous incident, saying only one person died, an elderly woman, who died not because of direct injury due to the crash but because of a heart attack. Of the 130 persons on board, 120 were injured, but fortunately alive. The plane took off from Bogota and landed on the San Andres Island Resort in Colombia.

I wanted to know the immediate cause of the crash and the news mentioned that the plane was struck by a lightning, but the pilot was able to expertly land the plane though it split into three. How the lightning affected the flight would be a matter of conjecture at this moment. There are many airplane incidents of lightning strikes and it would be informative if we are to review its history. Stay tuned for updates.