La Serena - La Serena

On August 11, 2006 at 11:35 AM, La Serena - La Serena experienced a crash involving Piper PA-31-310 Navajo, operated by Línea de Aeroservicios - LASSA, with the event recorded near Mt Yerbas Buenas Región de Atacama.

The flight was categorized as geographical / geophysical / scientific and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The twin engine aircraft departed La Serena-La Florida Airport at 1053LT on a geophysical mission over Domeyko, carrying one passenger and one pilot who were involved in a magnetic prospection mission on behalf of a mining program. Seven minutes after takeoff, the pilot informed ATC about his altitude at 6,500 feet and that he would descend to 500 feet once over the Domeyko area. About half an hour later, the aircraft crashed on the slope of Mt Yerbas Buenas, about 84 km north of La Serena Airport, bursting into flames. The wreckage was found four hours later at an altitude of 1,579 metres. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and both occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CC-CFK, MSN 31-607, year of manufacture 1970.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -28.1307°, -70.8322°.