Douglas DC-8-53 – PH-DCL

Incident Overview

Date: Tuesday 30 May 1961

Aircraft Type: Douglas DC-8-53

Owner/operator: VIASA, lsf KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Registration Number: PH-DCL

Location: 3 km WNW off Fonte da Telha – ÿ Portugal

Phase of Flight: En route

Status: Destroyed, written off

Casualties: Fatalities: 61 / Occupants: 61

Component Affected: Artificial horizonArtificial horizon

Investigating Agency: DGAC PortugalDGAC Portugal

Category: Accident

VIASA Flight 897 experienced a catastrophic accident during its descent from Rome to Caracas. The flight was cleared for a runway 23 departure following a crew change and KLM maintenance inspection. The aircraft, a DC-8, took off at 01:15 UTC, heading to the Capiraca (LS) NDB. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot reported a cloud base at 3700 ft and changed to Lisbon Control. Subsequently, the pilot stated it was ‘over LS at 19 climbing through FL 60’, and then reported ‘over LS at 19 climbing through FL 60’ again. The aircraft entered a spiral dive to the left, banking to the left 90 degrees within 20 seconds, and struck the water after 15 seconds. The bank was overcorrected to the right, resulting in a pitch angle of approximately 25ø nose down and a 30ø bank to the right. The incident was attributed to a probable cause of pilot misdirection due to instrument failure, particularly of the artificial horizon, or pilot distraction, potentially leading to a deviation from normal flight path.VIASA Flight 897 experienced a catastrophic accident during its descent from Rome to Caracas. The flight was cleared for a runway 23 departure following a crew change and KLM maintenance inspection. The aircraft, a DC-8, took off at 01:15 UTC, heading to the Capiraca (LS) NDB. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot reported a cloud base at 3700 ft and changed to Lisbon Control. Subsequently, the pilot stated it was ‘over LS at 19 climbing through FL 60’, and then reported ‘over LS at 19 climbing through FL 60’ again. The aircraft entered a spiral dive to the left, banking to the left 90 degrees within 20 seconds, and struck the water after 15 seconds. The bank was overcorrected to the right, resulting in a pitch angle of approximately 25ø nose down and a 30ø bank to the right. The incident was attributed to a probable cause of pilot misdirection due to instrument failure, particularly of the artificial horizon, or pilot distraction, potentially leading to a deviation from normal flight path.

Description

VIASA Flight 897 operated on the route Rome – Madrid (MAD) – Lisbon (LIS) – Santa Maria (SMA) – Caracas (CCS) when it landed at Lisbon at 00:06 UTC. Following a crew change and inspection by KLM maintenance personnel the flight was cleared for a runway 23 departure. The DC-8 took off at 01:15, heading to the Capiraca (LS) NDB. At 01:18:37 the flight advised that the cloud base was at 3700 ft and changed to the Lisbon area control frequency. It reported again at 01:19:25 to Lisbon Control that it was “over LS at 19 climbing through FL 60”. This message ended with two quickly spoken sentences. This was the last radio contact with the flight. The DC-8 entered a spiral dive to the left during the last message, banking to the left to 90ø within about 20 seconds and striking the water after another 15 seconds. During the last 15 seconds, the bank was overcorrected to the right. It struck the sea with a pitch angle of approximately 25ø nose down, while it was probably banking 30ø to the right. PROBABLE CAUSE: “Notwithstanding a very thorough, time-consuming investigation, in which many authorities and experts co-operated, it was not possible to establish a probable cause of the accident.” The Netherlands, as state of registry, commented: “Though there are no direct indications in this respect, the Board regards it as possible that the accident was due to the pilot or pilots being misled by instrument failure, in particular of the artificial horizon, or to the pilot having been distracted, so that a serious deviation from the normal flight path was not discovered in time.”