Accident Douglas DC-3 HK-2494,

Date:	Saturday 9 March 2019
Time:	10:36
Type:	Douglas DC-3
Owner/operator:	LASER Aéreo Colombia
Registration:	HK-2494
MSN:	33105/16357
Year of manufacture:	1945
Total airframe hrs:	27308 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 14 / Occupants: 14
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Finca La Bendición, San Martín - Colombia
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	San Jose del Guaviare-Jorge E. González T. Airport (SJE/SKSJ)
Destination airport:	Villavicencio Airport (VVC/SKVV)
Investigating agency:	Aerocivil
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The DC-3 aircraft with registration HK-2494, operated by LASER, was prepared to make a non-scheduled passenger flight between Taraira Airport (SKTR) and the aerodrome Villavicencio (SKVV) in Colombia. The aircraft took off at 06:13 hours local time with a crew of three, eight passengers and 500 kgs of cargo.
Adverse weather conditions were encountered en route and the crew decided divert to Miraflores (SKMF) where it landed at 07:39. There two more passengers boarded the flight for Villavicencio.
At 08:34 the aircraft took off from Miraflores and flew to San Jose del Guaviare (SKSJ) to refuel, where it landed at 09:14. The aircraft was fueled and the crew submitted a flight plan to Villavicencio with a total flight time of 45 minutes an altitude of 8,500 feet. Prior to departure one more passenger boarded the flight.
The aircraft took off at 09:55. At 10:15, when the aircraft was climbing through 8,100 feet and approximately 59NM (109 km) from Villavicencio, the flight reported engine problems and their failure to feather the propeller.
At the crew's request, ATC provided information on the location of several aerodromes in the area and the crew chose to proceed to La Rinconada aerodrome.
The aircraft lost altitude and last radio contact was at 10:32 when the crew radioed that they had a runway in sight, with no further information.
At 10:34 the aircraft hit the ground of a palm plantation with a high angle of descent and low speed. Flaps and undercarriage were retracted at the time of the accident. The aircraft slid across a gravel road and burst into flames.

Probable Cause(s).
The investigation determined that the accident was caused by the following probable causes:
- Loss of control in-flight as a consequence of the decrease in minimum in-flight control speed and drag generated by the impossibility of performing the No. 1 engine propeller feathering in the face of engine failure.
- Malfunction of the lubrication system of engine No. 1, evident in the abundant oil leakage from the engine, in flight, and in the governor of the left propeller; although discrepancies were found in the maintenance of the propeller feathering pressure line, it was not possible to determine the origin of the oil leakage.
- Weaknesses in the aircraft Operator's operational procedures, lacking a standard that would facilitate a crew's decision making to act in the event of critical failures, in matters such as making an emergency landing on unprepared field or the selection of an alternate airfield.
Contributing Factors:
- Deficiencies in standard maintenance practices during repairs performed on the No. 1 engine's propeller propeller feathering oil pressure line.
- Non-compliance with an effective and reliable maintenance program, which did not verify the operating conditions of the aircraft components; it was not possible to determine compliance with the last 50-hour service, Phase A, to engine No. 1 according to the company's maintenance program, since there are no records of that service in the Flight Log.
- Inefficient safety management system of the Operator for not detecting errors in the maintenance processes and in the conduct and control of operations.

Accident investigation: