Iberia Flight 602
Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle · Controlled flight into terrain
From Valencia Airport (VLC) to Ibiza Airport (IBZ)
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
- 104 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 104
- 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
Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle
- Aircraft type
- Sud SE-210
- 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
- EC-ATV
- Operator
- Iberia
- Onboard fatalities
- 104
- Route
- From Valencia Airport (VLC)To Ibiza Airport (IBZ)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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
Iberia Flight 602 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by a Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle that took off from Valencia, Spain, bound for the Balearic island of Ibiza, which flew into the side of a mountain near Ibiza Airport. All 98 passengers and 6 crew died in the crash.
The crash
Flight 602 was a domestic service flight that took off from Valencia Airport bound for Ibiza. On board were 6 crew and 98 passengers, most of whom were Valencia natives returning to Ibiza for work after the holidays.
At approximately 12:15 pm, the aircraft's captain radioed Ibiza Airport, requesting permission to descend to 5500 ft. Ibiza Airport sources reported that he also said, "Get me a beer ready, we are here."
The aircraft was approaching Runway 07 when it descended below 2000 ft. Reportedly, neither the captain nor the co-pilot noticed the dangerous descent, as they were discussing a football match with the airport tower controller. Flight 602 struck Mount Atalayasa approximately 90 ft below its 1515 ft summit. The aircraft exploded on impact. All 98 passengers and 6 crew on board were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
It was ruled that the pilot had failed to maintain the minimum flight altitude for a visual approach to Runway 07.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Iberia Flight 602” (revision 1349251450, 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: Iberia Flight 602
- Article
- Iberia Flight 602
- Revision
- 1349251450 · 2026-04-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q1600902
- 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 "Iberia Flight 602" (page 35261941, revision 1349251450)
- 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
- flight number in the article title
- 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.