Buenaventura – Cali

On November 17, 1956 at 04:45 PM, Buenaventura – Cali experienced a crash involving Douglas C-49 (DC-3), operated by Aerolineas del Pacifico - ARPA, with the event recorded near Mt El Rucio Huíla.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

36 people were known to be on board, 36 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 33, passenger fatalities: 33, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft took off from Buenaventura at 1630LT on a return flight to el Guavito aerodrome, Cali. Expected time of arrival at Cali was 1700 hours. On board the aircraft were the pilot, a steward (who held no licence to act as such), a flight engineer (who on this occasion was acting as copilot), and 33 passengers. When 1700 hours passed with no sign of the aircraft's arriving at Cali, a search was initiated. The wreckage was located the same evening on the side of El Rucio mountain. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 36 occupants have been killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration HK-385, MSN 1971, year of manufacture 1937.