Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801
Boeing 727-100 · Crashed during final approach for undetermined reasons
From Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, United States to Mexico City International Airport, Mexico
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
- 27 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 118
- Survivors
- 91
- 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
Boeing 727-100
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- XA-SEJ
- Operator
- Mexicana de Aviación
- Onboard fatalities
- 27
- Route
- From Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, United StatesTo Mexico City International Airport, Mexico
Approximate · Estimated position: Mexico City, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801 was a scheduled international flight from Chicago-O'Hare International Airport in Illinois bound for Mexico City International Airport, Mexico City. On September 21, 1969, the Boeing 727-100 crashed during its final approach to Mexico City International Airport. The aircraft broke apart upon impact, killing 27 of the 118 occupants on board. The cause of the crash was never determined.
Accident
Flight 801 was given clearance for an instrument landing on Runway 23L. It was in the landing configuration; Undercarriage down, flaps extended 30 degrees, leading-edge slats activated and stabilizer raised nose up by 10.25 units. On its final approach, at 17:45, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude and impacted the ground about 1,500 m from the runway threshold. This caused the aircraft to become airborne until the landing gears and front body impacted a railroad embankment. It crashed into a swamp and broke into three pieces. Dozens of passengers were reportedly sucked out of the airframe as it broke apart, scattering them for over 300 m. One of the engines also detached from the airframe. There was no post-crash fire. The forward section and cockpit came to rest 300 m away from the main fuselage wreckage.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801” (revision 1368971736, 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: Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801
- Revision
- 1368971736 · 2026-08-12 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q20986946
- 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 "Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801" (page 76908517, revision 1368971736)
- 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
- 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.