2008 Mexico City Learjet 45 crash

2008 aviation accident in Mexico 2008 Mexico City Learjet 45 crash 20081105 DF Cops and buildings.jpg Police officers guarding the crash site 4 November 2008 Encounter with wake turbulence due to pilot error by fraudulently certified flight crew leading to spatial disorientation and loss of control Accident Las Lomas, Mexico City, Mexico 19 25 35 N 99 12 13 W source:eswiki_region:MX_type:event inline,title Learjet 45 HB-VMC Learjet (cropped).jpg The aircraft involved in the accident, while still in service with TAG Aeroleasing AG in 2003 Secretariat of the Interior VICTOR MIKE CHARLIE XC-VMC Ponciano Arriaga International Airport, SLP Mexico City International Airport 9 6 3 1616 Dead in Mexico Plane Crash http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=323160&CategoryId=14091 Latin American Herald Tribune Mexico City 15 December 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20120218201803/http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=323160&CategoryId=14091 18 February 2012 40 7 9 40http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552709.html Reporta GDF ocho muertos y 40 heridos de gravedad El Universal es 11 April 2008 11 May 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20131103094150/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552709.html 3 November 2013 0 May 2014 On 4 November 2008, a Learjet 45 carrying Mexican Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño,2008-11-05 Profile: Juan Camilo Mourino https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7710029.stm live https://web.archive.org/web/20131104162323/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7710029.stm 4 November 2013 BBC News crashed into rushhour traffic in central Mexico City at around 18:45 local time.Informe accidente - Learjet 45 XC-VMC es Accident report - Learjet 45 XC-VMC 2008-11-04 https://www.baaa-acro.com/sites/default/files/2021-06/XC-VMC.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20221103230905/https://www.baaa-acro.com/sites/default/files/2021-06/XC-VMC.pdf 2022-11-03 The crash resulted in the deaths of 16 people, all nine people on board and seven people on the ground.Lagunas Icela Martinez Edith 6 November 2008 Suman ya 14 muertos There are already 14 deaths http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/163544.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081125023732/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/163544.html 25 November 2008 6 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es The investigation found that the pilots inadvertently entered the wake left behind by a Mexicana Boeing 767 ahead of them and did not control their descent on approach, causing the accident. Faked type certifications and credentials also contributed to the pilots being unable to deal with the situation. Accident The Secretariat of the Interior-owned Learjet 45 (registration XC-VMC) left Ponciano Arriaga International Airport in San Luis Potosí and was 12 km on6 November 2008 Mike Charly, ¿escucha?... la respuesta jamás llegó Mike Charlie, are you listening?... the answer never came http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/163543.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081212055813/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/163543.html 12 December 2008 6 November 2008 El Universal short of landing at Mexico City International Airport when it crashed. The plane crashed in rush-hour traffic close to the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and the Anillo Periférico, in the Las Lomas business district.,http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=877881 Mexican minister dies in crash Sunday Times 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 June 2017 InternetArchiveBot yes causing an explosion whose flames "reached higher than the buildings".https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7709877.stm Mexico minister 'killed' in crash BBC News 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081106022619/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7709877.stm 6 November 2008 live According to Secretary of Communications and Transport Luis Téllez, there were no survivors.http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-K-hAlJ07sX3xQ5xH6QZccbTMegD948GJI81 Mexico interior minister aboard plane that crashed Associated Press 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 June 2017 InternetArchiveBot yes Téllez also stated that the crash appeared to be an accident.http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/en/press/?contenido=39891 No Indications that Suggest a Hypothesis Other than that It was an Accident: SCT Office of the President of Mexico 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20090622102629/http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/en/press/?contenido=39891 22 June 2009 The crash set multiple cars and a newsstand on fire and injured at least 40 people.http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/05/content_10309981.htm 3 dead, 5 injured in Mexico City plane crash Xinhua News Agency 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081209011723/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/05/content_10309981.htm 9 December 2008 dead Body parts were reported to be scattered around the wreckage.https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ag.P4yqrtRWg Mexico's Interior Minister Killed in Plane Crash Bloomberg Television 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 Deaths All nine people on board and a further seven people on the ground were killed. Among the dead were Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño, top aide to President Felipe Calderón, and José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, former assistant attorney general.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/05/2410929.htm?section=justin Mexico interior minister killed in plane crash: official ABC News 5 November 2008 5 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081206020655/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/05/2410929.htm?section=justin 6 December 2008 dead4 November 2008 Los tripulantes de la aeronave Los tripulantes de la aeronave http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552733.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081201002308/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552733.html 1 December 2008 5 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es Government response thumb|left|250px|Another angle of police officers guarding the crash site|alt= After the crash, President Calderón addressed the nation live on national television. He spoke of Mouriño as one of his closest friends and collaborators and conveyed his condolences to the family.Jiménez Sergio Javier 4 November 2008 Ofrece Calderón condolencias a la familia de Mouriño Calderón offers condolences to Mouriño's family http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552723.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081208131720/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552723.html 8 December 2008 4 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es He stated that Mouriño was a man who always fought to make Mexico a better country and he guaranteed the nation that there would be an investigation into the causes of the crash. Calderón encouraged Mexican men and women to continue fighting for a better country no matter how difficult or painful any event may be. Marcelo Ebrard, Head of Government of the Federal District, also conveyed his condolences to Mouriño's family assured that Mexico City's government would issue a statement to the nation regarding the issue.de la Luz González María 4 November 2008 Expresa Ebrard condolencias a familia de Mouriño Ebrard expresses condolences to Mouriño's family http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552718.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081208131700/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552718.html 8 December 2008 4 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es Ebrard later said that the Mexico City government would give financial aid to all of the injured receiving medical care, irrespective of whether they had been admitted to private or public hospitals. He also said that the local authorities had handed over all recordings taken by surveillance video cameras to the federal attorney general,Cuenca Alberto 5 November 2008 Cubrirá GDF gastos médicos de heridos GDF will cover medical expenses for injured people http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/553052.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121003144047/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/553052.html 3 October 2012 5 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es along with all witness accounts that local police gathered. Several other political figures made statements regarding the crash, including various senators from the Institutional Revolutionary PartyGómez Ricardo Ramos Jorge 4 November 2008 Manifiestan senadores priistas condolencias por muerte de Mouriño PRI senators express condolences for Mouriño's death http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552745.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121003144057/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552745.html 3 October 2012 4 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es and Germán Martínez, leader of the ruling National Action Party.Jiménez Horacio 4 November 2008 Lamenta Germán Martínez la pérdida de Juan Camilo Mouriño Germán Martínez regrets the loss of Juan Camilo Mouriño http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552744.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081209034442/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552744.html 9 December 2008 4 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es A group of senators from different political parties asked the Attorney General of Mexico to investigate the accident.Gómez Ricardo Ramos Jorge 4 November 2008 Piden senadores investigar a fondo muerte de Mouriño Senators ask to thoroughly investigate Mouriño's death http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552742.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20081208131758/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/552742.html 8 December 2008 4 November 2008 El Universal Mexico City es Results of investigation The jet's black boxes were sent to the United States for analysis.January 2019 Information gathered from 38 minutes of cabin conversations, along with video footage from a security camera on top of the Omega Office Building, provided evidence for an official statement by the Mexican government that the crash was the result of pilot error.México revela que el accidente aéreo se debió a un error de los pilotos https://elpais.com/internacional/2008/11/14/actualidad/1226617211_850215.html El País EFE 14 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20190924164011/https://elpais.com/internacional/2008/11/14/actualidad/1226617211_850215.html 24 September 2019 22 March 2025 es The Learjet was ruled to have been flying too close to a Boeing 767-300ER operating as Mexicana de Aviación Flight 1692,Accident Learjet 45 XC-VMC, Tuesday 4 November 2008 https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/321613 2024-08-26 asn.flightsafety.org and as a result suffered violent wake turbulence caused by the larger jet. The minimum allowable distance for a lighter plane following behind a heavier plane is 5 nmi km; the Learjet was only 4.1 nmi km behind the Mexicana plane.AIN staff 5 November 2009 Turbulence Caused Mexican Learjet 45 Crash AIN Online (Aviation International News) http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainalerts/2009-11-05/turbulence-caused-mexican-learjet-45-crash https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194313/http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainalerts/2009-11-05/turbulence-caused-mexican-learjet-45-crash 29 October 2013 live mdy thumb|200px|Repair two weeks after the crash|alt=Corner of glass office building with several windows boarded up Investigations into the accident discovered several issues with the Mexican government's use of private contractors as pilots of government aircraft. Several key elements of the accident emerged during the investigation: Pilot Martín Olíva and co-pilot Álvaro Sánchez were not certified to operate the Learjet 45. The investigation concluded that both pilots had received fraudulent certifications: Captain Olíva lied about the number of training flights he had made, and had issues on the few training flights he did complete, while Captain Sánchez lied about being a Learjet 45 instructor. Both men had taken advantage of a corrupt system to get false training documents and some unsigned Learjet 45 certification forms from their flight schools. These revelations led Mexican authorities to suspend the licences of both flight schools. The descent profile showed that the improperly trained pilots approached the airport with an inconsistent descent angle. The plane descended rapidly and then leveled off in a stepped approach to the airport. The plane did not slow down to the required speed dictated by the air traffic controller, which brought the plane closer to the Mexicana 767-300ER. Conversation among the flight crew further indicates that they had little familiarity with the operation of the plane; they voiced confusion on several occasions about the cockpit instruments and failed to enter the proper information into the flight computers, did not follow a proper flight plan, and had navigational difficulties, missing their original arrival to San Luis Potosí by over 250 nmi km. The flight crew waited over a minute to follow the order from air traffic control to reduce their speed. The Learjet had been traveling at 262 kn km/h, while the Mexicana 767-300ER was flying at 185 kn km/h; this caused the Learjet to get too close to the 767-300ER. The accident happened during peak hours at the airport with heavy air traffic, which called into question the handling and scheduling of flight plans for top government officials. The accident happened just at the point where aircraft entering Mexico City traveling on a 170° course (south-southeast) make a sharp left turn to align with the runways of Benito Juárez International Airport at 53° (northeast). When the Learjet reached the turning point, too close behind the Mexicana 767-300ER, and making a steep descent that dropped it through the violent wake turbulence, it caused the plane to invert into a nose-down attitude. At this point, the plane was within 1700 ft m of the ground, limiting the room to enact a recovery. The weather at the time of the accident was calm, which sustained the wake turbulence. Due to the flight crew being unqualified for the plane, when faced with the conditions regarding the airspeed, inverted nose-down position, and insufficient altitude, they were unable to regain control of the plane. Though it was too late to make any difference, and too marginal to be meaningful, the flight crew did manage to reduce the angle of descent from 45° to 40° before hitting the ground at over 300 mi/h km/h. Dramatization The accident and subsequent investigation were featured in Season 14 – Episode 8 of documentary series Mayday. The episode was titled "Inner City Carnage" in the United Kingdom and Australia and "Accident or Assassination" in the United States and Canada.Accident or Assassination Mayday Cineflix Discovery Channel Canada 14 8 2015-02-17 There has been controversy and conspiracy theories due to the nature of the crash and whether if it had any relation to the drug-trafficking world (suggesting it was crashed on purpose) and, relating it to the corruption within governmental institutions. One uses as evidence the fact that a helicopter, with registration XA-JSLNovember 2025 flew a mere 600m from the Learjet that day according to the Secretary of Communications and Transportation and Luis Téllez, without any problems whatsoever from the wake turbulence.AVIONAZO: Más dudas que certezas PLANE: More doubts than certainties https://www.noroeste.com.mx/nacional/avionazo-mas-dudas-que-certezas-XPNO86550 2021-11-01 www.noroeste.com.mx es-MX See also Air Caribbean Flight 309 Aeroflot Flight 593 United Airlines 585 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, an accident where pilots who did not complete training made many mistakes. American Airlines Flight 587, an accident where poor training caused the pilot to overreact to wake turbulence from a Boeing 747 that had taken off ahead of them. Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, an accident in which the captain used fake credentials to get his license and both pilots being poorly trained. Colgan Air Flight 3407, an accident where the plane fell out of the sky and crashed just before final approach. Saudia Flight 163, an accident which the first officer used fake credentials to get his license and being poorly trained followed by the crew’s failure to evacuate during fire. References External links Press conference transcript of final report es Final investigation report es Cockpit voice recorder audio es Mexico Aviation Category:2008 in Mexico Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Learjet 45 family Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 2008 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Mexico Category:2000s in Mexico City Category:November 2008 in Mexico Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by wake turbulence Category:Paseo de la Reforma Category:Disasters in Mexico City Category:2008 disasters in Mexico Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by clear air turbulence Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Category:Felipe Calderón controversies