LAC Colombia Flight 028
Douglas DC-8-55CF · Loss of control and stall caused by pilot error
From Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU) to Viracopos International Airport (VCP)
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
- 22 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 18
- Occupants
- 4
- 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
- 2 · all on the ground
- 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
Douglas DC-8-55CF
- Flight
- LC028
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-8
- 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
- HK-3979
- Operator
- LAC Colombia
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU)To Viracopos International Airport (VCP)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Personnel issues › Miscellaneous
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Mariano Roque Alonso, Paraguay, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
LAC Colombia Flight 028 was a scheduled cargo flight that took off from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Luque, Paraguay and was bound for Campinas International Airport in Campinas, Brazil. It is the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Paraguay. The crash was caused by the pilot improperly ceding control to the co-pilot shortly after takeoff, then turning off two of the engines to hinder operation of the plane by the co-pilot.
On February 4, 1996, at 14:12 local time, the plane, a 29-year-old Douglas DC-8 of the now-defunct Colombian airline Líneas Aéreas del Caribe (LAC) stalled and crashed in a neighborhood in the district of Mariano Roque Alonso, about 10 km north of Paraguay's capital Asunción, a few minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 22 people: the 4 crew members, along with 18 people on the ground, mostly children who were playing on a soccer field. There were also several injuries and damage to several houses in the surrounding area.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation was carried out by the aeronautical authorities of Colombia (Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics), Paraguay and the United States (NTSB). After investigators analyzed the flight recorders that recorded the crew's conversations and movements of the plane in the last minutes of the flight, they concluded that the accident was due to pilot error.
The main error occurred when the pilot improperly gave control of the plane to the co-pilot, a prohibited procedure that made the aircraft operation difficult for the co-pilot. Both the pilots and the flight engineer had reportedly expressed excessive confidence about the conditions of the surrounding environment.
The final report came out in 1997, around a year after the crash, concluded the following:
Little experience of the pilot in command in this function.
Lack of flight safety doctrine in the cockpit at all pre-flight times.
Probable execution of unauthorized take-off training under uncontrolled conditions and by a person not qualified as an instructor.
Probable lack of knowledge of the flight characteristics with an empty aircraft on the part of the crew.
The "Probable Cause" section stated the following:
Text from the Wikipedia article “LAC Colombia Flight 028” (revision 1359582365, 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: LAC Colombia Flight 028
- Article
- LAC Colombia Flight 028
- Revision
- 1359582365 · 2026-06-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q84955168
- 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 "LAC Colombia Flight 028" (page 74709991, revision 1359582365)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- 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.