| - | ACCIDENT DETAILS |
| Date: | February 21, 2008 |
| Time: | 1700 |
| Location: | Merida, Venezuela |
| Operator: | Santa Barbara Airlines |
| Flight #: | 518 |
| Route: | Merida - Caracas |
| AC Type: | ATR-42-300 |
| Registration: | YV-1449 |
| cn / ln: | 028 |
| Aboard: | 46 (passengers:43 crew:3) |
| Fatalities: | 46 (passengers:43 crew:3) |
| Ground: | 0 |
| Summary: | Struck Indian Face mountain at 13,500 feet and disintegrated shortly after departing Merida. The pilots took off from Merida without waiting for the navigation system to properly initialize. Consequently, they became disoriented in the mountainous terrain surrounding the airport, crashing into the side of a mountain while trying to determine their location. The cause of the accident was the omission or improper use of the checklists and procedures critical to the operation of the flight, causing the Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) to not be initialized prior to the take-off roll. |
Sources
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