LANSA Flight 508

LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima (LANSA) that crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima to Pucallpa in Peru on 24 December 1971, killing 91 people – all 6 crew on board and 85 of its 86 passengers. As a result of a lightning bolt strike to the right-hand wing, the aircraft crashed down into the Amazon rainforest. Whilst several of the passengers initially survived the 3 km fall to earth, only one person, German Juliane Koepcke, was able to leave the crash site and hike for 11 days to safety. It is regarded in popular retellings as the deadliest lightning strike disaster in aviation history.

Accident

LANSA Flight 508 departed Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport shortly before noon on 24 December 1971 on its way to Iquitos in north-eastern Peru, with a scheduled stop at Pucallpa. Whilst cruising at FL210 (6.4 km) above mean sea level, the Lockheed L-188A Electra entered an area of severe thunderstorms and turbulence. Consequently, the aircraft was struck by lightning on its right wing. A fire broke out, and the aircraft suffered structural failure, with the right wing and part of the left wing separating in flight. Later analysis of the flight recorder indicated that the break-up occurred around 12:45, about fifteen minutes before the aircraft was due to land at Pucallpa. The aeroplane then crashed in flames into a jungle located in a mountainous terrain in the region of Puerto Inca.