Aeronaves de México accident near Acapulco
Douglas DC-8-51 · The Aeronaves de México accident near Acapulco occurred on 13 August 1966 on a training flight
From General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA) to General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)
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
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
- Airline
Douglas DC-8-51
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-8
- 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-PEI
- Operator
- Aeronaves de México
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Route
- From General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)To General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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
The Aeronaves de México accident near Acapulco occurred on 13 August 1966 on a training flight. The Douglas DC-8-51 of Aeronaves de México that was used struck a mountain during the planned landing at Acapulco Airport, killing all six occupants.
Accident sequence
After the aircraft had been used to operate a routine intercontinental scheduled flight from New York City, USA, to Acapulco with a scheduled stopover in Mexico City, the aircraft arrived at Acapulco Airport at 00:12 local time. The DC-8 was then serviced and refuelled and took off from runway 10 at 01:14 on a training flight. At around 01:50 the pilots reported an altitude of 16,000 feet and requested clearance for a simulated descent. Clearance was granted and the pilots were instructed to report again at an altitude of 6,000 feet, which they did. The controller then instructed the crew to report again when flying the turn for the approach. The crew did so and in this connection gave their altitude as 2,500 feet. At around 02:15 eyewitnesses south-east of the airport reported explosions and a fire. The wreckage was found on the slope of the El Salado mountain. The aircraft was completely destroyed on impact, and all six crew members were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigators were able to rule out weather conditions, a malfunction of the aircraft's components and a loss of control as the cause of the accident. They determined the cause of the accident to be a descent carried out carelessly and at the wrong time while flying the turn for the approach. In the process, the minimum safe altitude was said to have been breached. The accident was said to have occurred because the descent was initiated while the turn was being flown, although it had been intended that this should only happen after the turn had been flown and the aircraft had been aligned with the extended approach centreline. On impact the aircraft was said to have been almost level with a slight left roll angle, the landing gear was said to have been extended and the high-lift devices extended to 50 degrees.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Aeronaves de México bei Acapulco” (revision 269044899, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Aeronaves de México bei Acapulco
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269044899 · 2026-07-23 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q128693953
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Aeronaves de México bei Acapulco" (page 12892486, revision 269044899), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An airliner used on the carrier's scheduled service, then flown by Aeronaves de México on a crew training flight: an airline's own training flight. The article: "After the aircraft had been used to operate a routine intercontinental scheduled flight from New York City, USA, to Acapulco"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.