Flight

The four engine airplane departed Santiago de Chile at 1021LT and landed at Punta Arenas for a technical stop at 1444LT. It took off at 1653LT on a leg to Teniente Rodolfo Marsh-Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Airport located on King George Island, Antarctica, carrying 21 passengers and 17 crew members. After flying a distance of about 390 NM, while in cruising altitude, the radar contact was lost, vertical to the Drake Passage. SAR operations were initiated jointly by the Chilean, Uruguay and Argentine Air Forces which dispatched several aircraft over the area. At 1800 GMT on December 10, SAR operations are still ongoing.

The single engine airplane departed Chamberlain Airport in marginal weather conditions. Few minutes later, while flying in snow falls, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a cornfield located about 30 miles west-southwest of Chamberlain. Three passengers aged 17, 27 and 28 were injured and evacuated to hospitals in Chamberlain, Mitchell and Sioux Falls while nine other occupants were killed.

The twin engine airplane was returning from Walgak to Juba on a cargo flight, carrying two passengers and two crew members. En route, weather conditions worsened and the crew decided to perform an emergency landing. The aircraft crash landed in the bush about 12 km south from Bor Airport and came to rest with its right wing partially torn off and the cockpit severely damaged. All four occupants were injured and transferred to local hospital.

The crew was completing an illegal flight between Venezuela and Honduras. En route, the airplane was traced by Honduran and Guatemalan Authorities and the crew eventually completed a belly landing in Palajuyú, in the region of Sipacate, Guatemala. Law enforcement officers were fired upon arrival and the occupants left the crash site and were not found. The aircraft was destroyed. An important load of contraband was found on board.

En route from Durango to Acapulco, the twin engine airplane crashed in unknown circumstances in the Infiernillo River, in the region of Las Juntas. The wreckage was found inverted and partially submerged in water. All six occupants were killed.

The airplane departed Goma Airport at 1532LT on a cargo flight to Kinshasa, carrying four crew members, four passengers and various goods for the Congolese Presidency. The last contact with the flight was 59 minutes after takeoff from Goma Airport then the airplane disappeared without any distress call from the crew. The wreckage was localised on October 14 near the village of Okoto, Kole region, in the west part of the Kasai-Oriental Province. The aircraft was destroyed and all eight occupants were killed, among them two bodyguards and one of the personal driver of the Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi who returned from Goma to Kinshasa the same day in another aircraft. The Congolese Presidency confirmed that Félix Tshisekedi spent four days in Goma and that his personal Jeep was on board the AN-72.

The crew (one instructor aged 58 and one pilot under supervision aged 28) departed Surasi Air Base around 0900LT on a training flight. En route, in unknown circumstances, the single engine airplane crashed near Moo 2 (Sai Yok district). The aircraft disintegrated on impact and both occupants were killed.

The twin engine airplane departed Timika Airport at 1036LT on a cargo flight to Ilaga, carrying one passenger, a crew of four and a load of 1,7 ton of rice. At 1054LT, the crew gave his ETA at Ilaga Airport when the contact was lost about six minutes later. As the airplane failed to arrive at destination, SAR operations were initiated. The wreckage was found four days later in a mountainous terrain, at an altitude of 4,115 meters, about 10 km from Kampung Mamontoga. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all four occupants were killed.

The airplane was apparently engaged in an illegal flight, carrying a crew of two. It crashed in unknown circumstances near Champerico, Guatemala, and was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. According to the flight plan, the aircraft was supposed to fly from Zihuatanejo to Chetumal with one passenger and two crew members. Guatemalan authorities reported that the flight was illegal and that the aircraft was presumed transporting a load of cocaine.

The twin engine airplane was completing an ambulance flight from Dipolog and Manila, carrying seven passengers and a crew of two. While cruising in marginal weather conditions, the airplane went out of control and crashed into several houses located in the city of Pansol, about 40 km southeast of Manila-Ninoy Aquino Airport. The aircraft was destroyed and all nine people on board were killed. There were apparently no injuries on the ground.