Aeropesca accident near Tota
Aeropesca Colombia Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando · The Aeropesca accident near Tota occurred on 14 August 1978
From El Dorado International Airport (BOG) to Tame Airport, Colombia
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
- 18 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando
- Aircraft type
- Curtiss C-46
- 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
- HK-1350
- Operator
- Aeropesca Colombia
- Onboard fatalities
- 18
- Route
- From El Dorado International Airport (BOG)To Tame Airport, Colombia
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Tota, Boyacá, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Aeropesca accident near Tota occurred on 14 August 1978. On that day, an Aeropesca Colombia Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando on a cargo flight from Bogotá to Tame was flown into a mountain. All 18 occupants of the aircraft died in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft was flown under visual flight rules despite adverse weather conditions. During the flight the weather conditions deteriorated further and further. Finally the aircraft struck a slope of the 3,543-metre-high Páramo de Laura mountain, located south of Sogamoso, Boyacá. The wreckage of the aircraft was discovered hours later; there were no survivors among the 18 occupants.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation commission determined the type of accident to be controlled flight into terrain. The accident had come about through a combination of several factors; strong winds had caused the aircraft to drift off course. The accident investigators criticised the crew for flying the aircraft visually in poor visibility and thus in instrument meteorological conditions. It was further found that the aircraft was not airworthy, since two VOR receivers were missing and a radio compass was defective. Because of the defective or missing navigation equipment, the pilots did not notice that the aircraft had drifted off course.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Aeropesca bei Tota” (revision 254730647, 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 Aeropesca bei Tota
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 254730647 · 2025-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q133789882
- 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 Aeropesca bei Tota" (page 13433068, revision 254730647), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- 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 Aeropesca Colombia transport aircraft on an intercity cargo flight: a commercial cargo flight by an air transport company. The article: "an Aeropesca Colombia Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando on a cargo flight from Bogotá to Tame was flown into a mountain"
- 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.