ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 352840
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| Date: | Saturday 8 August 1970 |
| Time: | 16:00 |
| Type: |  Cessna T337C Skymaster |
| Owner/operator: | ATESA |
| Registration: | HC-AOM |
| MSN: | 337-0935 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | California, La Maná -
 Ecuador
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Executive |
| Departure airport: | Eloy Alfaro International Airport (MEC/SEMT), Manta |
| Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO/SEQU), Quito |
The crash was then ruled "unexplainable" and a "mystery." The flight crew reported 80 km out and 25 minutes after taking off from Manta (SEMT) on its way to Quito (SEQU). Many eyewitnesses saw the Cessna 337 flying pretty low over La Maná, near the city of Quevedo. Other eyewitnesses saw it passing just a few meters over the Ana María airstrip of the crop duster company Cadasa, which meant that if the plane was having difficulties or if the pilot was feeling sick, it could have just landed there and reported to the base at Quito what had happened.
Unofficial information provided to El Comercio newspaper stated that the accident was due to the pilot's decision to fly very low with the purpose of "exploring" the Quevedo zone to show it to the other passengers on board the plane. Since the eyewitnesses never saw anything unusual on the plane or something that could have given the clue of it being in trouble.
The Cessna 337 crashed on a little hill on a site called California, near the La Maná parish and just 2 km away from the Quevedo - Latcunga highway. After the time necessary for the aircraft to arrive in Quito had passed, Quito Tower and ATESA tried several times to contact the missing plane without success. Shortly after an emergency was declared, helicopters of the Ecuadorian Air Force and planes of the Air Force, Ecuavia, and Ecuatoriana de Aviación started searching for the missing plane. The search was canceled due to the night, and the following day, an airplane of Ecuatoriana de Aviación found the crashed Cessna at 11 in the morning.
The pilot, retired Capt. Francisco Gómez Jurado Narváez (which had 20.000 flight hours at the time), and passengers, Mr. Michael Richardson, Mr. Franklin Pico Jr., and Mrs. Benjamine de Oostrom, died instantly.
Sources:
Civil Registers of Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay - Air Britain Historians Ltd (1982) p32
El Comercio 10 August 1970, p28
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Mar-2024 06:28 | Diogo da Conceição | Added |
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