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1990 Aerochago Airlines Convair CV-240 accident

16 Aug 1990 · west of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Convair CV-240-23 · The 1990 Aerochago Airlines Convair CV-240 accident occurred on 16 August 1990

From Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) to Las Américas International Airport (SDQ)

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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
2 · 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

Convair CV-240-23

Aircraft type
Convair CV-240
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
HI-376CT
Operator
Aerochago
Onboard fatalities
2
Route
From Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)To Las Américas International Airport (SDQ)

Cause areas

  • Aircraft › Aircraft structures
  • Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Approximate · Estimated position: Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1990 Aerochago Airlines Convair CV-240 accident occurred on 16 August 1990. On that day, an Aerochago Convair CV-240-23, operating a cargo flight from San Juan in Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo, was observed breaking apart in the air and crashing into the Caribbean Sea. The wreckage and the two crew members of the aircraft were never found.

Accident sequence

The aircraft was in cruise flight when a suspected in-flight structural failure suddenly occurred. The pilot of an aircraft nearby received a distress call and observed the Convair going out of control and plunging towards the sea, while parts came off the aircraft in the area of the tail. The Convair crashed into the sea in the area of the Mona Passage, located between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Despite an intensive search, neither the wreckage of the aircraft nor the pilots were ever found.

Investigation and cause

Cause

The accident investigators concluded that, during the conversion of the aircraft from a passenger to a cargo aircraft, work had been carried out on the aircraft that did not conform to standard procedures. Accordingly, the aircraft structure had been weakened in the area of the cargo door as a result of the conversion, and a structural failure had occurred in this area, resulting in a sudden decompression of the aircraft.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Convair CV-240 der Aerochago Airlines 1990” (revision 258637636, 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 einer Convair CV-240 der Aerochago Airlines 1990
Article
Flugunfall einer Convair CV-240 der Aerochago Airlines 1990
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
258637636 · 2025-08-06 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q135235047
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 einer Convair CV-240 der Aerochago Airlines 1990" (page 13459448, revision 258637636), 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 Aerochago Airlines Convair on an international cargo flight: an air carrier flight. The article: "an Aerochago Convair CV-240-23, operating a cargo flight from San Juan in Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo"
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.