Aerosucre Flight 157

The Boeing 727 arrived at Puerto Carreño on the day of the accident at 14:48 local time, after a cargo flight from Bogotá. The crew unloaded of cargo. Although the weight and balance manifest of the accident flight was not found, investigators presumed that slightly less than of cargo distributed on nine pallets was loaded for the return to Bogotá. The 727 then taxied onto Runway 25 threshold; the crew set the flaps at 30°, the plane was trimmed for takeoff, and the plane started its takeoff run at 17:18. The 727 used all of the runway, but was still not airborne. It traveled another over grass and struck a perimeter fence. It then crossed a road on the airport's perimeter, where numerous motorcyclists and pedestrians narrowly avoided being hit by the aircraft. After crossing the road, the 727 then collided with a shed, then a tree, before finally becoming airborne. The impact detached the right main landing gear from the aircraft, damaged the inboard right flap, caused engine 3 to lose power, and damaged one hydraulic system, causing it to leak. The aircraft achieved an altitude of , entered a slight right-hand descending turn, which completed a near 270° arc, and then impacted flat terrain, bursting into flames. ==Aircraft and crew==

The aircraft involved in the crash was a Boeing 727-200 registered HK-4544 with serial number 21105. It entered service in 1975, operating as a passenger aircraft for Air Jamaica until 1997. It was then converted into a cargo aircraft. The aircraft began operating for Aerosucre in 2008. The captain was 58-year-old Jaime Cantillo, who had been with Aerosucre since 1997 and was licensed to fly the Boeing 727 in 2005. He had logged 8,708 flight hours, including 6,822 hours on the Boeing 727. The first officer was 39-year-old Mauricio Guzmán, who had been with the airline since 2008 and had 3,285 flight hours, all of which were on the Boeing 727. The flight engineer was 72-year-old Pedro Duarte, who joined Aerosucre in 2013 and had logged 1,612 flight hours, though his flight experience on the Boeing 727 was unknown. ==Victims==

The flight plan indicated five people aboard, but an undocumented sixth person was on the flight. Four people died immediately and two people survived the impact, but one of the survivors died later from injuries. ==Investigation==

The Colombian government's Air Accident Investigation Group (; GRIAA) concluded that three factors extended the aircraft's takeoff run by , resulting in a runway excursion that eventually led to the crash: • The crew incorrectly calculated a rotation speed that was higher than necessary. • The chosen takeoff runway was subject to a tailwind. • The pilot rotated the aircraft too slowly, at about 1°/sec instead of 2 to 3°/sec. Furthermore, although initial calculations suggested the aircraft was operating within its weight limits, the investigators believe, based on the takeoff speeds used by the crew, that the aircraft was actually almost a tonne above its maximum permissible takeoff weight of . ==References==