Surinam Airways Flight 764
McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (PBM)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA89RA056
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 178 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 187
- Survivors
- 9
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 9
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62
- Flight
- PY764
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas DC-8
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1809E
- Operator
- Surinam Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 178
- Route
- From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)To Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (PBM)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Organizational issues › Support/oversight/monitoring
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight of Surinam Airways from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname. On 7 June 1989, the DC-8-62 serving the flight crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij, killing 178 of the 187 on board. It is the deadliest aviation disaster in Suriname's history.
Investigation revealed significant deficiencies in the crew's training and judgement. They knowingly attempted to land using an inappropriate navigation signal and ignored alarms warning them of an impending crash. The safety issues stemming from the incident were of such concern that the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
History of the flight
The flight departed Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as scheduled at 23:25 on 6 June. The next ten hours of the flight passed uneventfully. The crew received a final weather report and clearance for a VOR/DME (VHF omnidirectional range/Distance Measuring Equipment) approach to runway 10 but instead initiated an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach. During the approach, the plane's no. 2 engine struck a tree at a height of approximately 25 m above ground level. The outboard right wing then struck another tree, shearing it off and causing the aircraft to roll over and impact the ground inverted. Of the 9 crew and 178 passengers, only 9 passengers survived, leaving 178 dead (including all crew).
Investigation and cause
Investigation and probable cause
A commission was set up by the Surinamese government to investigate the accident. The results of that investigation are described below.
The final weather report sent to the aircraft stated a visibility of 900 metres in fog, with a cloud base of 400 ft, and calm winds. This surprised the flight crew because previous weather information had given a visibility of 6000 m. As a result, the aircraft was cleared for a VOR/DME (VHF omnidirectional range/distance measuring equipment) approach, the crew instead initiated an ILS/DME approach. ILS navigational equipment is normally more accurate than VOR/DME equipment, but in this case, the ILS equipment at Zanderij airport, though transmitting signals, was not suitable nor available for operational use. The investigation showed that the crewmembers were aware of this. The cockpit voice recorder captured the first officer saying, "I don't trust that ILS", but the captain chose to use it regardless. He did instruct the first officer to tune the required navigational equipment for the functional VOR/DME approach, most likely for use as a gross error check.
In the dark, because of the unreliability of the ILS signal, the aircraft descended too low, triggering several audible and visual warnings. The crew ignored these warnings and descended below the minimum altitude allowed for either the VOR/DME or ILS approaches without positive visual contact with the runway. The crew may have been motivated by the aircraft's low fuel state. The aircraft crashed at 04:27 local time.
The NTSB investigation discovered that captain Rogers, at age 66, was over the maximum age (60) allowed for a captain on this flight. Additionally, he was not properly approved for operating the aircraft type, as his most recent check had been on a small, piston-drive, twin-engine aircraft instead of the DC-8. Partly as a result of name confusion in his check paperwork, this incorrect check went unnoticed by the airline. The co-pilot had false identity papers.
The "probable cause" paragraph from the report reads as follows:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Surinam Airways Flight 764” (revision 1363196584, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Surinam Airways Flight 764
- Article
- Surinam Airways Flight 764
- Revision
- 1363196584 · 2026-07-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2610182
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA89RA056
- Event ID
- 20001213X28543
- Case number
- DCA89RA056
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Surinam Airways Flight 764" (page 2451918, revision 1363196584); merged with NTSB case DCA89RA056 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA89RA056
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): Suriname accident investigation commission final report (ICAO Circular 262-AN/156, 3.2 Injuries to Persons: fatal 9 crew + 169 passengers = 178 of 187), https://asn.flightsafety.org/reports/1989/19890607_DC86_N1809E.pdf
- Ground fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): Suriname accident investigation commission final report (ICAO Circular 262-AN/156, 3.2 Injuries to Persons: fatal 9 crew + 169 passengers = 178 of 187), https://asn.flightsafety.org/reports/1989/19890607_DC86_N1809E.pdf
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Surinam Airways Flight 764" and NTSB case DCA89RA056, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Death toll settled: the NTSB record (DCA89RA056) gives 174 and the Wikipedia article 178; Suriname accident investigation commission final report (ICAO Circular 262-AN/156, 3.2 Injuries to Persons: fatal 9 crew + 169 passengers = 178 of 187) gives 178. Later deaths. Of the 15 people pulled alive from the wreck, 7 died later, and the final report counts 178. The NTSB's 174 (and ASN's 176) look like counts taken before all of those hospital deaths.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.