LADE Flight 5025

LADE Flight 5025 (flight number: LD5025) was an unscheduled cargo flight of the airline Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE), which belongs to the Argentine Air Force. On 23 October 1996 the flight went from Santiago de Chile Airport to Buenos Aires-Ezeiza Airport. On landing, a pilot error caused the accident of a Boeing 707-372C cargo aircraft, killing two people.

Flight

The aircraft was operating a cargo flight from Santiago de Chile to Buenos Aires. The cargo consisted of 30 tonnes of fish, which was to be loaded in Buenos Aires onto a Boeing 747 bound for Madrid. The aircraft lifted off in Santiago de Chile at 11:50 local time. During the flight, the captain instructed the first officer to take the left pilot's seat and to fly and land the aircraft.

Sequence of the accident

The descent was initiated without the corresponding checklist having been consulted beforehand. Because of a tailwind, the aircraft was above the planned altitude at every measuring point. A fast and steep descent followed. Near the outer marker, at a distance of 13 kilometres from runway 11, the aircraft should already have been in landing configuration. The crew quickly set the flaps to 14, 25 and 40 degrees. Shortly afterwards the setting was changed to 50 degrees. The nose of the aircraft pitched down and the aircraft went from its altitude of about 900 to 1000 metres into a steep descent from which it could no longer be recovered. The aircraft struck the ground hard 750 metres short of the runway of Buenos Aires-Ezeiza Airport, broke apart and caught fire. Two of the eight crew members were killed.