Avianca Flight 011
HK-2910X, the aircraft involved, photographed in August 1983 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 27 November 1983 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error, navigational error, and ATC error |
| Site | Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid Barajas International Airport, Madrid, Spain 40°24′12″N 3°26′57″W / 40.40333°N 3.44917°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-283BM Combi |
| Operator | Avianca |
| IATA flight No. | AV011 |
| ICAO flight No. | AVA011 |
| Call sign | AVIANCA 011 |
| Registration | HK-2910X |
| Flight origin | Frankfurt Airport, West Germany |
| 1st stopover | Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France |
| 2nd stopover | Madrid Barajas International Airport, Madrid, Spain |
| Last stopover | Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Destination | El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Occupants | 192 |
| Passengers | 169 |
| Crew | 23 |
| Fatalities | 181 |
| Injuries | 11 |
| Survivors | 11 |
Avianca Flight 011 was a Boeing 747-200BM Combi on an international scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt to Bogotá via Paris, Madrid, and Caracas that crashed near Madrid on 27 November 1983. It took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 22:25 on 26 November 1983 for Madrid Barajas Airport; take-off was delayed waiting for additional passengers from a Lufthansa flight due to a cancellation of the Paris-Frankfurt-Paris segment by Avianca for operational reasons.
During the instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 33, the 747 crashed on a hill approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south east of the airport, killing 181 people, including 19 on-duty and four off-duty crew members. The 11 surviving passengers were seriously injured. The cause of the accident was judged to be pilot error, the captain having incorrectly determined the position of the plane. As of 2025, Avianca Flight 011 remains the second-deadliest aviation accident in Spanish territory (the deadliest being the Tenerife airport disaster), the deadliest accident in mainland Spain, the deadliest crash involving a single aircraft in Spain and the deadliest accident in the history of Avianca.