Valera – El Vigía – San Antonio del Táchira

On February 22, 2011 at 03:10 PM, Valera – El Vigía – San Antonio del Táchira experienced a crash involving Cessna 340, operated by Maparca Compañía Aérea, with the event recorded near Lobatera Táchira.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 6 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: 5, passenger fatalities: 5, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The twin engine aircraft departed Valera Airport on a charter flight to San Antonio del Táchira with an intermediate stop in El Vigía, carrying five passengers and one pilot. All flight was completed under VFR mode but while descending to San Antonio del Táchira, weather conditions worsened and the pilot switched to IFR mode. Shortly later, control was lost and the aircraft crashed on the slope of Mt Laja, near Lobatera. The wreckage was found about 25 km northeast of San Antonio del Táchira Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all six occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration YV2402, MSN 340A-1502, year of manufacture 1982.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 7.9304°, -72.2459°.