Línea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 304
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Unknown · Terrorist attack against the floodgates of the Guárico Reservoir
From Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS) to Cacique Aramare Airport (PYH)
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
- 13 · 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
Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela
- Onboard fatalities
- 13
- Route
- From Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS)To Cacique Aramare Airport (PYH)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 28 April 1960, a tragic event marked the history of Venezuelan civil aviation. A Douglas DC-3 aircraft of the airline Aeropostal Venezolana (LAV) took off from Maiquetía on a flight to Calabozo, San Fernando de Apure and Puerto Ayacucho. On board were 3 crew members and 10 passengers, including a Russian passenger named Wjatheslav Lavinski.
During the flight to Calabozo, Lavinski threatened the crew with an explosive device and demanded that they obey his orders. The pilot, Alejandro Medina Guerra, kept calm and control of the aircraft. Lavinski detonated the bomb, causing the aircraft to crash about 3 km from El Rastro, a site near the then-called Guárico Reservoir, barely 15 km from Calabozo, resulting in the loss of the lives of the 13 occupants.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
This terrorist act, unprecedented in Venezuelan civil aviation, shocked public opinion. The investigations revealed that Lavinski was carrying a book about deaths in the air and had inconclusive motivations for his action. It was also discovered that in 1950 a yacht had been taken from him and he could not recover it. After this he tried to speak with the man who gave the order to seize it, and even his son told him to give up on placing the bomb against the man.This tragic event left an indelible mark on the history of aviation in Venezuela.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Vuelo 304 de Linea Aeropostal Venezolana” (revision 165759272, 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
Spanish Wikipedia article: Vuelo 304 de Linea Aeropostal Venezolana
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 165759272 · 2025-02-28 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q122915173
- 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
- es Wikipedia article "Vuelo 304 de Linea Aeropostal Venezolana" (page 10677105, revision 165759272), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article 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
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Spanish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.