Maracaibo – Santa Bárbara de Zulia

On March 5, 1991 at 04:17 PM, Maracaibo – Santa Bárbara de Zulia experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-9, operated by Linea Aeropostal Venezolana - LAV, with the event recorded near Mt La Aguada Trujillo.

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

45 people were known to be on board, 45 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 40, passenger fatalities: 40, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. After departure from Maracaibo-La Chinita Airport, the crew followed a wrong heading to Santa Bárbara de Zulia (153° instead of 193°), which caused the aircraft to fly to the southeast over the lake of Maracaibo. While cruising at an altitude of 16,500 feet, the crew was cleared by ATC to descend to 5,500 feet. The crew reported to ATC that the VOR seemed to be inoperative but this was denied by the air traffic controller. At an altitude of 9,900 feet, the captain realized something was wrong about the heading selection, stopped the descent and initiated a right turn to gain height when the GPWS alarm sounded. Shortly later, the aircraft struck the slope of Mt La Aguada (3,320 meters high) located about 27 km northeast of Valera, some 170 km northeast of Santa Bárbara de Zulia. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 45 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration YV-23C, MSN 47720, year of manufacture 1976.