2019 Coahuila Bombardier Challenger crash
Compañía de Aviación y Logística Empresarial Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 601-3A · Loss of control during severe turbulence
From Las Vegas, Nevada to Monterrey, Mexico
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's fatalities. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19WA137
- 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
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Final · Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de… final report
- Event fatalities
- 13 · all aircraft and ground Possible conflict
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 13
- 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
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 601-3A
- Aircraft type
- Canadair CL-600
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- N601VH
- Onboard fatalities
- 13
- Route
- From Las Vegas, NevadaTo Monterrey, Mexico
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · change of cruise level
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Documented · Crash site as stated in the Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report. No uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
On 5 May 2019 a Bombardier Challenger 601-3A crashed near Monclova, Coahuila in Mexico after losing control in severe turbulence. All 13 people on board were killed.
Accident
The plane took off from Las Vegas with passengers reportedly returning from attending a boxing match on the afternoon of 5 May 2019 and was to land at Monterrey, northeastern Mexico. However, air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft over Coahuila. Contact with the aircraft was lost about 150 nm (280 km) from the northern Mexican city of Monclova. The plane subsequently crashed into terrain and all 13 occupants were killed.
According to Aviation Safety Network, the crew had been approved permission to climb to FL390. Nine minutes later the aircraft entered the green zone of the weather system, which caused the turbulence to increase with vertical acceleration values ranging between 1.40 and 0.68 g. The crew then requested to climb to FL410, which was the maximum certified operating altitude for the aircraft. This request was also approved by Monterrey International Airport. The aircraft entered the core of the most intense part of the weather system where turbulence began to become more severe and soon got to higher altitudes, rolled and nose dived. It then impacted terrain at an elevation of 1088 m.
Investigation and cause
Cause
According to the Federal Civil Aviation Agency, the accident was caused by “a loss of control due to a rapid climb and inversion caused by severe atmospheric instability, inducing both engines to shut down” and "inability of the aircraft’s [weather] radar to provide information for an undetermined reason.”
Text from the Wikipedia article “2019 Coahuila Bombardier Challenger crash” (revision 1339304693, 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
NTSB narrative
On May 5, 2019, a Challenger Ltd CL-600-2B16 airplane, N601VH, impacted terrain near Coahuila, Mexico. The two pilots and fourteen passengers were fatally injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged.
This investigation is under the jurisdiction and control of the Mexican investigation authorities. Any further information may be obtained from:
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC)
Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1990, Piso 4
Col. Los Alpes Tlacopac, Del. Álvaro Obregón
Codigo Postal 01010, Mexico
Telephone: (52) 55 5723-9400, extension 18548 / 18545
E-mail: cidaiac@sct.gob.mx, jconstan@sct.gob.mx
This report is for informational purposes only and contains only information released by, or obtained from, the Mexican investigation authorities.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2019 Coahuila Bombardier Challenger crash
- Revision
- 1339304693 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q116609328
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record CEN19WA137
- Event ID
- 20190506X61405
- Case number
- CEN19WA137
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2019 Coahuila Bombardier Challenger crash" (page 72777883, revision 1339304693); merged with NTSB case CEN19WA137 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- NTSB record CEN19WA137: Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report; matches the Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record CEN19WA137
- Operation
- Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities; matches the Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report
- Ground fatalities
- Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2019 Coahuila Bombardier Challenger crash" and NTSB case CEN19WA137, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
- Checked against the Comisión Investigadora y Dictaminadora de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Dirección de Análisis de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación, Subsecretaría de Transporte, SCT (Mexico) final report on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, crash-site coordinates, fatalities, registration, operator, departure, destination and damage. Taken from the report: ground fatalities and type of operation. Not checked: place, flight number and aircraft type.