MEXICANA FLIGHT 940
On March 31, 1986, Mexicana Flight 940 crashed into El Carbón, a mountain in the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range northwest of Mexico City, killing all 167 people on board. The crash remains the deadliest airline disaster in Mexican history, and is the world's deadliest air disaster involving the Boeing 727.
The Flight 940 was operated by Mexicana de Aviación, and was a scheduled international flight from Mexico City via Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán to Los Angeles. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-264, registered as XA-MEM. The plane was piloted by captain Carlos Guadarrama Sistos, an experienced Mexican captain with over 15 000 hours of flying experience. The first officer was Pillip L. Piaget Rohrer, and the flight engineer was Ángel Carlos Peñasco Espinoza. At 08:50 local time, the plane took off from Benito Juárez International Airport, Mexico City.
The left main gear brake was overheated during the takeoff run. At 09:05, fifteen minutes after takeoff, the heat caused a tyre on the left hand main gear to explode. Fuel and hydraulic lines were ruptured, and electrical cables severed resulting in a cabin decompression. Captain and the crew in the cockpit declared an emergency, and asked to return to Benito Juárez International Airport for an emergency landing, but spilt fuel ignited and caused a massive fire on board. Control was lost and the aircraft crashed into a mountain in the Sierra Madre, at an elevation of 9000 feet. It was found that the tire had been serviced with air rather than nitrogen. The air, under high temperature and pressure, resulted in a chemical reaction with the tire itself. This led to a chemical explosion of the tire. Mexicana maintenance personnel were blamed for negligence in maintaining the aircraft, and for filling the tire with compressed air, instead of nitrogen.
NOTABLE AVIATION ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS