- Date
- January 25, 1990, 21:34 local (Jan 26, 1990, 02:34 UTC)
- Place
- Cove Neck, NY
- Injuries
- 73 fatal, 81 serious, 4 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- HK201Boeing 707-321B
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 10, 1993
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 15935
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The failure of the flightcrew to adequately manage the airplane's fuel load, and their failure to communicate an emergency fuel situation to air traffic control before fuel exhaustion occurred. Contributing to the accident was the flightcrew's failure to use an airline operational control dispatch system to assist them during the international flight into a high-density airport in poor weather. Also contributing to the accident was inadequate traffic flow management by the FAA and the lack of standardized understandable terminology for pilots and controllers for minimum and emergency fuel states. The safety board also determines that windshear, crew fatigue and stress were factors that led to the unsuccessful completion of the first approach and thus contributed to the accident.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
On 1/25/90 at aprx 2134 EST, avianca airlines flt 052 (AVA052), a Boeing 707-321B with colombian registration HK-2016, crashed in a wooded residential area in Cove Neck, long island, NY. AVA052 was a scheduled intl psgr flt fm bogota, colombia, to john f kennedy intl arpt, NY, with an intermediate stop at jose maria cordova arpt, near medellin, columbia. Of the 158 persons aboard, 73 were fatally injured. Because of poor wx conds in the northeastern part of the united states, the flightcrew was placed in holding 3 times by ATC for a total of about 1 hr & 17 min. Drg the 3rd period of holding, the flightcrew rprtd that the acft could not hold longer than 5 min, that it was running out of fuel, and that it could not reach its alternate arpt, boston-logan intl. Subsequently, the flightcrew executed a missed apch to john f kennedy intl arpt. While trying to rtrn to the arpt, the acft experienced a loss of power to all 4 engs & crashed aprx 16 mi from the arpt. (See NTSB/AAR-91/04 for further information)
Aircraft
- Registration
- HK201
- Reported as
- Boeing 707-321B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19276
- Airframe hours
- 61,196
- Engine
- P&W JT3D-3B, 18,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 129
- Operator
- Avianca, doing business as Avianca
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- AAIP · November 16, 1989 · 361 hours before
- Departed
- MEO · Medeln,Columbia, OF
- Destination
- JFK · Jamacia, NY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- JFK · Jfk Intl, runway 22L, 11,351 × 150 ft, concrete
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 51
- Certificates
- Foreign, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 16,787 total · 1,534 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 190° at 20 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft overcast
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- JFK, 15 nm away