SAM Colombia Flight 501
Boeing 727-46 · Controlled flight into terrain caused by pilot error in inclement weather
From Tocumen International Airport (PTY) to El Dorado International Airport (BOG)
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 132 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 132
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Boeing 727-46
- Flight
- MM501
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- HK-2422X
- Operator
- SAM Colombia
- Onboard fatalities
- 132
- Route
- From Tocumen International Airport (PTY)To El Dorado International Airport (BOG)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
SAM Colombia Flight 501 was a Boeing 727-46 that crashed on 19 May 1993, killing all 132 on board. The aircraft collided with a mountain while on approach to Medellín, Colombia.
Accident
At 14:18, Flight 501 took off from Panama City, Panama, bound for Bogotá, Colombia, with a stopover in Medellín. The aircraft climbed to flight level 160 (about 16,000 ft). On board were 7 crew members and 125 passengers, including several Panamanian dentists on their way to a convention.
Thunderstorm activity in the area made automatic direction finder (ADF) navigation more difficult, and the Medellín VOR/DME was unusable, having been attacked by terrorists. The crew reported over the Abejorral NDB beacon at FL160, as they were approaching Medellín. The flight was then cleared to descend to FL120 (about 12,000 ft), after which communication was lost. After multiple failed attempts to contact the flight, Medellín ATC declared an emergency.
Because the radio beacon was unserviceable, the crew made navigational errors. The 727 had actually not yet reached the beacon and descended into mountainous terrain. The flight then struck the 3,749 m Mount Paramo Frontino.
Text from the Wikipedia article “SAM Colombia Flight 501” (revision 1355113509, 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: SAM Colombia Flight 501
- Article
- SAM Colombia Flight 501
- Revision
- 1355113509 · 2026-05-20 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7388641
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "SAM Colombia Flight 501" (page 24884350, revision 1355113509)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- 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)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.