1986 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crash
Salvadoran Air Force Douglas DC-6B · Aircraft caught on fire and crashed shortly after takeoff
From Ilopango International Airport (ILS) to Tocumen International Airport (PTY)
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
- 37 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 37
- 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
- Military
Douglas DC-6B
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-6
- 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
- FAS302
- Operator
- Salvadoran Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 37
- Route
- From Ilopango International Airport (ILS)To Tocumen International Airport (PTY)
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 1 May 1986, a Douglas DC-6B of the Salvadoran Air Force crashed 1.5 mi north of the Ilopango International Airport in Ilopango, El Salvador shortly after takeoff. The crash killed 37 people on board the aircraft making it the deadliest military aviation accident in Salvadoran history.
Accident
On 1 May 1986, the Douglas DC-6B carrying 37 members of the Salvadoran military took off from the Ilopango International Airport in Ilopango, El Salvador. There were 4 crew members and 33 passengers. The flight was carrying military personnel to a mechanics course in Panama. Two minutes after takeoff, the aircraft caught fire and crashed into a hill 1.5 mi north of the airport at 4:32 a.m. local time. None of the 37 people on board the plane survived. No ground casualties were reported but one house was destroyed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The Salvadoran government initially suggested that a mechanical failure caused the crash but did not rule out sabotage by the rebel Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), although the government considered sabotage to be "unlikely". The FMLN did not claim responsibility for the crash over its Radio Venceremos broadcasts. The aircraft did not have either a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder on board. The cause of the crash was never determined.
The crash is the deadliest military aviation accident in Salvadoran history. It was the deadliest aviation accident in Salvadoran history until 9 August 1995 when Aviateca Flight 901 crashed and killed 65 people.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1986 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crash” (revision 1355574461, 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: 1986 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crash
- Revision
- 1355574461 · 2026-05-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q131806479
- 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 "1986 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crash" (page 78790690, revision 1355574461)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit 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.