Shootdown of an Aerochasqui CASA Aviocar

The shootdown of an Aerochasqui CASA Aviocar took place on 9 July 1991. On that day a CASA C-212 Aviocar 200 regional aircraft of Aerochasqui was shot down by police forces shortly after takeoff from Bellavista Airfield, Loreto Region (Peru); all 15 occupants died. The circumstances of the incident are disputed.

Accident sequence

While the aircraft was being prepared for takeoff at Bellavista-Huallaga Airfield, seven local police officers tried to stop the crew because they suspected a drug-smuggling transport. Confused by the situation, the crew ignored the police instructions and decided to take off. Shortly after rotation, the aircraft was fired upon by the police officers during the initial climb at a height of 20 metres. The aircraft was hit by several bullets, the crew lost control of the aircraft, and it crashed beyond the runway at 16:50 local time. All 15 occupants were killed. It later emerged that the captain had been killed instantly, while the first officer, who had been hit by five bullets, died an hour after the accident. Diverging from this, a report in the Los Angeles Times gave the number of occupants of the aircraft and fatalities as 17.

Accident investigation

The accident investigation determined that the shooting at the aircraft by the police officers was the cause of the crash. In addition, all the police officers involved had been drunk at the time of the incident. The owner of Aerochasqui, Paul Fiedler, on the other hand, claimed after the incident that the police officers themselves had been high on cocaine at the time of the accident. The suspicion that drugs were being smuggled with the aircraft also turned out to be unfounded. The Andean region in which the incident occurred is considered one of the regions of origin of the coca shrub.