160 killed in Venezuela jet crash

Trouble with both engines
Paz said the pilot reported trouble with both engines to the Caracas air control tower just after 3 a.m. local time.

Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said the aircraft had changed its route to request a landing at Chinita Airport in the western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, but crashed in the Sierra de Perija mountains near the town of Machiques.

“When it was flying over Venezuelan airspace, they had problems with one engine and then with another engine, and at that moment it went down,” Chacon said.

Peter Goelz, former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators would most likely look for evidence of fuel contamination.

“It’s not unusual to lose one engine. It is unusual to lose both,” Goelz said. “One of the first things you always look at is fuel contamination.”

Goelz said he understood that both engines had recently had work done on them to suppress noise. Within the last few weeks, he said, hush kits — noise-suppression devices — were supplied to the engines.

French Transport Minister Dominique Perben said West Caribbean Airways had operated a charter since spring between Panama and Martinique.

French aviation authorities checked the plane twice since May and found nothing unusual, he said. For Monday's flight, the plane had been chartered by a Martinique travel agency, he said.

Airline had earlier crash
West Caribbean Airways last March saw one of its passenger planes crash as it left the airport on Old Providence Island off Colombia. The L-410 aircraft's two crew and six of the 12 passengers were killed.

On Old Providence Tuesday, officials at the island’s small airport announced the suspension of all West Caribbean flights, without giving a reason.

Two dozen stranded passengers huddled around a television in Old Providence’s palm-studded airport, watching news reports of the crash.

“I don’t even want to fly on West Caribbean, even if they offer a flight,” said Olmo Cardoso, a Colombian-Italian student visiting relatives on Old Providence. “Two crashes in such a short period is obviously too much. There’s something wrong.”

The airline operates three jets from the MD-80 series, two MD-81s and the MD-82 that crashed.

MD-80 series production started in 1980 by McDonnell Douglas, which was later acquired by Boeing. Production ended in December 1999.

70- to 80-mile glide range
Paul Czysz, emeritus professor of aerospace engineering at St. Louis University, said South America’s mountainous terrain makes it a challenge for pilots.

“You have to know what you’re doing down there,” he said. “If you’re losing altitude in the wrong place, you’re in trouble.”

Czysz said all twin-engine planes have to be able to fly with one engine. Even if both engines were out on the MD-82, the plane still could have glided another 70 or 80 miles — if mountains weren’t in the way.

“The difficulty when you’re in a glide is that you’re losing altitude every second. If the ground is rising in front of you, your glide range is cut dramatically,” Czysz said.

MORE FROM AMERICAS

Americas Section Front

Pro-Cuba embargo money flows to lawmakers Peru quits summit over alleged espionage Venezuela's Chavez: Do sit-ups, eat well Can baseball bring U.S. and Cuba together? Drug lord makes Forbes list of ‘most powerful’ Huge Andes lake is drying up Mexican business groups call for U.N. troops Brazil: Big drop in Amazon deforestation Americas Section Front   Add Americas headlines to your news reader: