An Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 had a severe incident while taking off from Puerto Carreño Airport in Colombia. While climbing up, the aircraft hit a tree, which led to an engine failure. How did this happen? Let’s investigate further.
The incident
Last month, a security camera in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, recorded a Boeing 737-200 barely flying a few meters off the ground, narrowly missing houses, while departing from the local airport. At the moment, the reason behind the incident was unknown, but now Colombia’s civil aviation authorities have released a preliminary report on the subject.
On February 3, 2022, Aerosucre, a domestic cargo carrier, scheduled its Boeing 737-200, registration HK5192, to operate two flights between Bogotá and Puerto Carreño, a city near the Venezuelan border.
The first leg of the trip went smoothly. Onboard Aerosucre’s flight were five people, a pilot, a copilot, an overseeing copilot, and a couple of technicians.
In Puerto Carreño, the local crew loaded the B737-20 with 31,961 lb of cargo and filled the aircraft with 980 gallons of fuel. The calculated take-off weight was 108,877 lb, including the five people onboard.
At 17:40, local time, the crew began rolling through the taxiway, preparing to depart back to Bogotá. At the moment of departing, there was a wind blowing at 04 knots; the crew set the flaps at 10 degrees and calculated the departing speeds at V1 130 KT, Vr 132, and V2 13.
The tree
Once everything was set up, the pilots applied maximum speed and began the departure from Puerto Carreño. While ascending, the aircraft hit a tree located on the take-off trajectory. The tree was 14 meters tall (about 45.9 feet), and 239 meters away from the tip of the runway. The extreme heat in Puerto Carrillo may have been a contributing factor in the Boeing B737-200’s lack of power to climb out before impacting the tree.
Immediately after, the aircraft signaled a failure in engine number 1, losing power. The plane barely climbed out, gaining height very slowly, as seen in the YouTube video above.
According to the preliminary report, the crew managed to restart the engine, although it overheated after the hit.
A look at the tree Aerosucre’s Boeing B737-200 hit while departing from Puerto Carrillo. Photo: Dirección Técnica de Investigación de Accidentes.
The aircraft managed to fly up to a 2,500 feet height and flew 30 nautical miles away from Puerto Carreño. At that point, the crew decided to return to the airport and asked for the emergency services to be present while landing.
The crew successfully landed the aircraft at 18:11, local time. No one was injured due to the incident.
During an inspection, in the aftermath of the incident, an investigator found the presence of vegetation in the left wing, the engine, as well as embedded in several slat joints.
Following the incident, Colombia’s civil aviation authorities recommended the local airport establish a standard procedure allowing Boeing 737 take-offs to be carried out during daylight hours when the ambient temperature is lower.
About Aerosucre
Aerosucre is a cargo airline based in Bogotá, Colombia. It launched operations in 1969. According to ch-aviation, the carrier has five aircraft, including three Boeing 727-200s, two B737-200, and one B737-300.
In 2021, Aerosucre carried 190 million kilograms of cargo, 14.2% more cargo loaded than in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, Aerosucre didn’t surpass its cargo levels from 2020 and carried nearly 8% less freight last year.
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