Aviaco Flight 111
Bristol 170 Freighter 21 · Crashed after loss of control
From Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)
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
- 0
- 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
Bristol 170 Freighter 21
- Aircraft type
- Bristol 170
- 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
- EC-ADI
- Operator
- Aviaco
- Onboard fatalities
- 37
- Route
- From Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)To Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
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
Aviaco Flight 111 (AO111) was a domestic scheduled flight by Aviaco from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid. On 9 May 1957 the Bristol 170 crashed shortly before landing at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing all 37 passengers due to a loss of control.
Accident
At 19:04 CET on 9 May 1957, Aviaco Flight 111 crashed near Madrid–Barajas Airport during its approach to land on runway 23. While flying on the downwind leg, the aircraft was banked slightly to the left to allow the captain a better view of the control tower’s green landing clearance signal. After spotting the signal, the captain initiated a right bank. During this maneuver, the aircraft entered an unrecoverable right-hand spin, lost control, and impacted the ground, catching fire.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and probable cause
The investigation determined that the accident was caused by pilot error. Due to a failure in radio communication, the captain had to rely on visual signals from the control tower to confirm landing clearance. This distraction lead to the captain losing situational awareness. As a result, the aircraft crashed before reaching the runway.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Aviaco Flight 111” (revision 1354029372, 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: Aviaco Flight 111
- Article
- Aviaco Flight 111
- Revision
- 1354029372 · 2026-05-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q106964150
- 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 "Aviaco Flight 111" (page 79214494, revision 1354029372)
- 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
- 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.