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The Alianza Lima air disaster was a aircraft accident on December 8, 1987 in which 43 people associated with the Alianza Lima football (soccer) team died. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alianza Lima is one of the two most popular football teams in Peru, along with classic rivals Universitario de Deportes. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Background

In 1987, Alianza Lima was in first place with a few matches left in the Peruvian Football Championship, but tragedy would get in the way. On 7 December, Alianza made a trip to Pucallpa to play against Deportivo Pucallpa for the league. The match was won 1-0, with Carlos Bustamante scoring. The team took a charter flight for the round trip. The return flight departed on 8 December in a Peruvian Navy Fokker F27, which crashed into the sea by Ventanilla, some six miles from the intended destination, the Jorge Chávez International Airport in Callao, just outside Lima. There were 43 fatal victims, including all the players, members of the cheer squad and the coaching staff. The only survivor was the pilot. Alianza Lima is one of the two most popular football teams in Peru, along with classic rivals Universitario de Deportes. ... The Primera División Peruana (Peruvian First Division) is the top category of Peruvian football (soccer), and its organized by the Federación Peruana de Fútbol. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Pucallpa (Quechua: puka hallpa, red earth) is a busy Amazon frontier town in Peru which sits on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary which feeds the Amazon River. ... Peruvian Navy Jack The Peruvian Navy (Marina de Guerra del Perú) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to 200 nautical miles from the peruvian littoral. ... A PIA F27 at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore in January, 2006 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer, Fokker. ... Ventanilla is a district of the Constitutional Province of Callao in Peru, and one of the six districts that comprise the port city of Callao. ... Jorge Chávez International Airport (IATA: LIM, ICAO: SPIM) is Perus main international and domestic airport, serving over 5 million passengers per year (5,4 million passengers in 2005). ... Callao (Spanish: El Callao) is the largest and most important port in Peru. ... Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of Lima Province. ...

Although it was close to the end of the championship, the Peruvian Football Federation and the participating clubs did not cut the tournament short; therefore, Alianza Lima finished the championship with retired players, like Teófilo Cubillas and César Cueto, with youngsters and a few players on loan from Chilean club Colo Colo. The Federacion Peruana de Futbol, or FPF, is the governing body of football in Peru. ... Teófilo Cubillas (born March 8, 1949 near Puente Piedra, Lima, Peru) was a Peruvian football player. ... Colo-Colo is one of Chiles most popular football clubs. ...

Investigation and reasons

According to the Peruvian television program "Indiscreet Window", the Naval Aviation Commission found that pilot inexperience in flying at night, a misreading of the manual of procedures for emergency situations and poor condition of the aircraft contributed to the accident^[1].

According to reporter Cecilia Valenzuela, the complete official file containing the Commission's findings was taken illegally to [[Florida] in the United States by Edmundo Mercado Pérez, the former Peruvian Navy captain who presided over the investigation, where it remained locked in a US bank for 19 years.

According to the file, the pilot Edilberto Villar had logged 5.3 hours of night flying in the 90 days preceding the accident, 3.3 of them in the preceding 60 days, and no night flying at all in the preceding 30 days. Edilberto Villar Liuetenant Edilberto Villar flought a charter flight with the whole equipment of Alianza Lima. ...

The file also indicated the copilot, First Lieutenant César Morales, had logged only one hour of night flying in the 90 days preceding the accident, half an hour in the preceding 60 days and no night flying at all in the preceding 30 days.

According to the report, the maintenance log book for Fokker F-27, given to the pilot before takeoff, showed a series of mechanical deficiencies and initially Lieutenant Villar was so concerned he refused to fly the aircraft.

The Naval Aviation Commission report of February 1988 indicates that halfway through the flight from Pucallpa to Lima, the crew noted a possible malfunction of the landing gear. The warning panel indicated that the landing gear had not lowered, however Corporación Peruana de Aeropuertos y Aviación Comercial (CORPAC), in charge of air navigation support, checked this with their observers on the ground, and informed the pilot that he was able to land safely.

According to the report, the pilot ordered his copilot to check the manual procedure for this emergency situation, in order to find a solution. The relevant manuals were written in English however, a language in which copilot César Morales was not completely fluent. He incorrectly read instruction 1.3.1.7 red instead of instruction 1.4.3 orange.

In a letter by the firm Fokker dated October 16 1986, the airplane manufacturer indicates that the pilot Edilberto Villar had had not passed a special training course which could have prevented “his disorientation while operating under pressure, the excessive demand of work in a cabin”, but in spite of the failed test he was regarded as a pilot. Fokker 100 of British Midland Airways For the physicist and musician, see Adriaan Fokker. ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ...

The copilot, César Morales, had never recieved training from Fokker.

Survivors

Three people initially survived the crash: Alianza Lima midfielder Alfredo Tomassini, a member of the crew, and pilot Edilberto Villar. Villar declared that he escaped through a broken window and when he was swimming, he heard Tomassini was asking for help and he gave him a cylinder. He wrote in his report that Tomassini, who was an expert swimmer, showed apathy to keep swimming despite being tall and athletic. In his report, he never said that Tomassini was injured but later he told his lawyer another version in which the player had a fractured leg. By the time they were floating it was 8 p.m. and he knew that they had to resist until morning. The other survivor was a member of the crew who quitted insulting the pilot then disappeared. The pilot said that the player drowned after three times that he got him out of the water. He said that he had to let him drown. now. ... Edilberto Villar Liuetenant Edilberto Villar flought a charter flight with the whole equipment of Alianza Lima. ...

Victims

43 people died as a result of the accident: José Gonzales Ganoza, José Mendoza, Gino Peña, Tomás Farfán, Cesar Sussoni, Willy León, Daniel Reyes, Ignacio Garretón, José Casanova, Carlos Bustamante, Aldo Chamochumbi, Tiled Braulio, Johnny Watson, Alfredo Tomassini, Milton Cavero, Luis Escobar, together with their coach Marcos Calderón, Andrés Tosses, Washington Gómez, Santiago Miranda, Orestes Suárez and Rolando Gálvez and some fans who travelled with the team.

References

1. ^ New revelations about plane crash killing Peruvian football team 19 years ago. Living in Peru (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.