Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · Dual-engine failure due to fuel contamination
From Las Américas International Airport (SDQ) to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)
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
- 102 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 102
- 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-9-32
- Flight
- DO603
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9
- 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
- HI-177
- Operator
- Dominicana de Aviación
- Onboard fatalities
- 102
- Route
- From Las Américas International Airport (SDQ)To Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
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
On February 15, 1970, Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603, en route from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to San Juan, Puerto Rico crashed into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff. The crash killed all 97 passengers and 5 crew on board, making it the deadliest aviation disaster to occur within the Dominican Republic until the crash of Birgenair Flight 301 in 1996, in the Caribbean Sea, leaving 189 dead.
Accident
The airliner was operating an international flight from Las Américas International Airport near Santo Domingo, to San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. The flight took off at about 6:30 PM. Two minutes after departure, one of the engines lost thrust. The crew declared an emergency, telling air traffic controllers that the right engine had flamed out, and requested to immediately return to the airport. While the crew were preparing to turn back toward the airport, the left engine also flamed out. The aircraft descended until it hit the sea about two miles south of the airport. There were no survivors among the 97 passengers and five crew members on board.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
There were initially concerns of a terrorist attack as the family of Antonio Imbert Barrera was on board. However, the investigation concluded that the cause of the crash was the sequential failure of both engines caused by fuel contamination due to water ingress. Neither the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or flight data recorder (FDR) was ever found.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603” (revision 1357279928, 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: Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603
- Revision
- 1357279928 · 2026-06-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q5290887
- 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 "Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603" (page 426256, revision 1357279928)
- 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.