TANS Perú Flight 204

TANS Perú Flight 204 refers to a domestic scheduled Lima–Pucallpa–Iquitos passenger service, operated with a Boeing 737-244 Advanced, that crashed on August 23, 2005 on approach to Pucallpa Airport, 4 miles (6.4 km) off the airfield, following an emergency landing attempt because of bad weather, killing 40 of 98 occupants aboard.

Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident was a 1981-built Boeing 737-200 Advanced, registered OB-1809, which had been leased to TANS Perú from the South African lessor company Safair two months prior to the accident occurrence. With manufacturer's serial number 22580/787 and powered with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17A engines, the airframe had its maiden flight on August 4, 1981 (it was 24 years, and 19 days old at the time the accident took place) and was originally delivered to South African Airways. At the time of the accident the aircraft had accumulated 49,865 flight hours and 45,262 cycles.

Description of the accident
There was an unusual developing cold front in the vicinities of Pucallpa minutes before the event took place, with cloud tops estimated to be 45,000 feet (14,000 m) high. Instead of heading the aircraft to another airport, the pilot initiated the approach to Pucallpa Airport with torrential rains and strong winds in the background. Some 10 minutes before the scheduled time for landing the plane started rocking. Realizing that the airport could not be safely reached amid that worsening weather conditions, the pilot attempted an emergency landing. The aircraft was flying through a hailstorm for the last 32 seconds of its ill-fated flight when it was seemingly taken down by a wind shear, hit tree tops, impacted terrain in a swamp located 3.8 nautical miles (7.0 km; 4.4 mi) ahead of the runway threshold, broke up as it crash landed and burst into flames, leaving a path 100 feet (30 m) wide and 0.8 nautical miles (1.5 km; 0.92 mi) long. The wreckage of the airplane was engulfed by the fire.

There were 92 passengers and six crew members on board, including 18 non-Peruvian citizens (11 Americans, 4 Italians, 1 Australian, 1 Colombian, and 1 Spanish). Most of the fatalities were recorded for passengers travelling in the front of the aircraft. Many people that survided the accident suffered serious injuries, mostly burns and broken limbs.

After 312 days of investigations, there were no reports of any technical malfunction. The official cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error for not following standard procedures under adverse weather conditions. It was the fifth major plane crash of August 2005, and the second major crash of a TANS Peru flight in slightly over two years.

In the media
Flight 204 has been the subject of a Reader's Digest story and an MSNBC documentary.