Havana - Guatemala City

On December 21, 1999 at 09:40 AM, Havana - Guatemala City experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-10, operated by AOM French Airlines, with the event recorded near Guatemala City-La Aurora Guatemala.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

314 people were known to be on board, 18 fatalities were recorded, 296 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 5.7%.

Crew on board: 18, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 296, passenger fatalities: 8, other fatalities: 2.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Leased from AOM French Airlines, the aircraft was completing a charter flight (service CU1216) from Havana to Guatemala City on behalf of Cubana de Aviacion, carrying 18 crew members and 296 passengers who were mostly young Guatemalan citizens studying medicine in Cuba. After touchdown on runway 19, the crew started the braking procedure but the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, went down an embankment and eventually crashed onto several houses located in the district of La Libertad. Both pilots, six other crew members, eight passengers and two people on the ground were killed. Also, 57 people were injured (among them 20 on the ground) while 261 other occupants escaped uninjured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Aircraft reference details include registration F-GTDI, MSN 46890, year of manufacture 1973.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 14.5822°, -90.5290°.