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Avensa Flight 358

22 Dec 1974 · Near Maturín Airport, Maturín, Venezuela

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 · Loss of control for undetermined reasons

From José Tadeo Monagas International Airport (MUN) to Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS)

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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
75 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
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

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14

Flight
VE358
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
YV-C-AVM
Operator
Avensa
Onboard fatalities
75
Route
From José Tadeo Monagas International Airport (MUN)To Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS)

Cause areas

  • Not determined › Not determined

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

Avensa Flight 358 was a scheduled domestic flight from Maturín Airport to Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela. On 22 December 1974, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 operating the flight crashed from the city of Maturín, killing all 75 people on board.

Accident

On 22 December 1974, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, with 69 passengers and 6 crew on board, took off on runway 05 from Maturín Airport. In command was 49-year-old Captain Diógenes Torrellas Leon, a veteran pilot with 25,000 hours of flying time, and the First Officer was Norberto Vivas Uzcátegui, 34. Five minutes after takeoff the pilots declared an emergency to the control tower. The pilots lost control of the aircraft and crashed 32 km from the city of Maturín, Venezuela. All 75 on board the flight perished.

Investigation and cause

Cause

Venezuelan authorities and the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the accident. The cause of the accident was not determined, though an elevator malfunction was considered.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Avensa Flight 358” (revision 1371340176, 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: Avensa Flight 358
Article
Avensa Flight 358
Revision
1371340176 · 2026-08-26 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4828151
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 "Avensa Flight 358" (page 25907081, revision 1371340176)
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.