Neiva – San Vicente del Caguán

On November 8, 1965 at 12:25 PM, Neiva – San Vicente del Caguán experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Aerolineas TAO, with the event recorded near Cañón del Paraiso Caquetá.

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, 26 fatalities were recorded, 10 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 72.2%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 31, passenger fatalities: 23, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The flight was a scheduled domestic flight from La Manguita Airport, City of Neiva to San Vicente del Cagúan. It took off from Neiva at 1207 hours and its estimated time of arrival at its destination was 1245 hours local time. At 1500 hours, when there was no report from the aircraft, the Bogotá Control Centre declared a state of alert and at 1540 hours a state of emergency. On 11 November at approximately 1207 hours, the pilot-in-command of another aircraft informed Neiva through Airway Control that he had spotted the remains of the aircraft at a place named Canón del Paraiso close to the Cerro del Diablo. Three crew members and 23 passengers were killed while 10 other occupants were rescued.

Aircraft reference details include registration HK-1202, MSN 4402, year of manufacture 1942.