Aeroméxico Flight 498
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico | |
2nd stopover | Loreto International Airport Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico |
---|---|
Last stopover | General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico |
Destination | Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupants | 64 |
Passengers | 58 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 64 |
Survivors | 0 |
Second aircraft | |
![]() A Piper PA-28-181 Archer similar to the aircraft involved | |
Type | Piper PA-28-181 Archer |
Operator | Private |
Registration | N4891F[2] |
Flight origin | Zamperini Field Torrance, California, U.S. |
Destination | Big Bear City Airport Big Bear Lake, California, U.S. |
Occupants | 3 |
Passengers | 2 |
Crew | 1 |
Fatalities | 3 |
Survivors | 0 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 15 |
Ground injuries | 8 |
Aeroméxico Flight 498 was a scheduled commercial flight from Mexico City, Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, United States, with several intermediate stops. On Sunday, August 31, 1986, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the flight was clipped in the tail section by N4891F, a Piper PA-28-181 Cherokee owned by the Kramer family, and crashed into the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos, killing all 64 on the DC-9, all three on the Piper and an additional 15 people on the ground. Eight on the ground also sustained minor injuries.[3] Blame was assessed equally on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the pilot of the Cherokee. No fault was found with the DC-9 or the actions of its crew.
Aircraft
The larger aircraft involved, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with tail number XA-JED
N4891F was a privately operated Piper PA-28-181 Archer owned by the Kramer family, which was flying from Torrance to Big Bear City, California. The Piper aircraft was piloted by William Kramer, 53. His wife Kathleen, 51, and daughter Caroline, 26, were also aboard. Their plane had departed Torrance at approximately 11:40 a.m. PDT. Kramer had 231 flight hours of experience and had moved to Southern California within the last year from Spokane, Washington.[7]
The cockpit crew of Flight 498 consisted of Captain Arturo Valdes Prom (46) and First Officer Jose Hector Valencia (26). The captain had 4,632 hours of flying experience in the DC-9 and a total of 10,641 flight hours. The first officer had flown 1,463 hours, of which 1,245 hours had been accumulated in the DC-9.
Accident summary
On Sunday, August 31, 1986, at approximately 11:46 a.m. PDT, Flight 498 began its
The DC-9, with all of its horizontal stabilizer and most of its vertical stabilizer separated, inverted and immediately entered a dive. It slammed into a residential neighborhood at Holmes Avenue and Reva Circle in Cerritos, crashing into the backyard of a house at 13426 Ashworth Place, where it exploded on impact. The explosion scattered the DC-9's wreckage across Holmes Avenue and onto Carmenita Road, destroying four other houses and damaging seven more.[11] All 64 passengers and crew on board died (plus 15 people on the ground);[8] a fire added to the damage.
Passengers and crew
Nationality | Passengers | Crew | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Colombia | 1 | 0 | 1 |
El Salvador | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Mexico | 20 | 5 | 25 |
United States | 36 | 1 | 37 |
Total | 58 | 6 | 64 |
Thirty-six of the passengers were citizens of the United States. Of the 20 Mexican citizens, 11 lived in the U.S. and nine lived in Mexico. One Salvadoran citizen lived in Islip, New York. Ten of the passengers were children.[12]
Investigation and aftermath
The U.S.
The Piper was not equipped with a Mode C
As a result of this accident and other near midair collisions in terminal control areas, the FAA required that all large commercial jets[15][16] in U.S. airspace be equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) and required that light aircraft operating in dense airspaces be equipped with Mode C transponders, which can report their altitude.[17]
A jury ruled that the DC-9 bore no fault, instead deciding that Kramer and the FAA each acted equally negligently and bore equal responsibility.[18] Federal Air Regulations 14 CFR 91.113 (b) require pilots of all aircraft to maintain vigilance to "see and avoid"[19] other aircraft that might be on conflicting flight paths.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit applied the Supreme Court of California's ruling in Thing v. La Chusa to extend recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress to Theresa Estrada, whose husband and two of four children were killed on the ground as the result of the crash. In the television documentary Mayday, Estrada reported that she saw the explosion from a distance;[20] Thing requires that the person be at the scene and aware of the injury being caused to the victim.[21] She arrived minutes later with her home consumed by fire and surrounded by burning homes, cars and aircraft debris. In a separate trial on damages, the Estrada family was awarded a total of $868,263 (approximately $1,908,674.77 in 2024) in economic damages and $4.7 million in noneconomic damages (about $10.3 million in 2024), including $1 million (about $2,198,268.00 in 2024) for the negligent infliction of emotional distress.[22]
The flight number, 498, was recycled as a flight from
In popular culture
The
A similar accident is depicted in the Breaking Bad episode "ABQ". The show's main character has the same name as the air-traffic controller in the real-life accident, Walter White.[26][27]
It is featured in season 1, episode 5, of the TV show Why Planes Crash, in an episode called "Collision Course".
In August 2022, KNBC produced The Nightmare of Flight 498, led by reporter Hetty Chang, who had been a 7-year-old child residing in the neighborhood where the DC-9 crashed and a student at the school where the Piper Cherokee crashed. Interspersed with news reports from the crash, Chang interviewed her parents, neighbors (including one who resided at 13426 Ashworth Place where the DC-9 exploded), and first responders about their recollections of the crash.
Gallery
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NTSBdrawing portraying approximate point of impact
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Close-up of the names of the victims
-
Dedication plaque at the base of the bench
See also
- TWA Flight 553, a similar crash that occurred in 1967 near Urbana, Ohio and involved a new DC-9 and a small plane.
- Piedmont Airlines Flight 22, a similar crash that occurred with a 727 in Hendersonville, North Carolina in 1967.
- Allegheny Airlines Flight 853, a similar crash that occurred also with a DC-9 and Piper Cherokee in Fairland, Indiana in 1969.
- San Diego, Californiain 1978.
- Proteus Airlines Flight 706, a similar midair collision between a Beechcraft 1900 and a Cessna 177 Cardinal over Quiberon Bay, Brittany, France in 1998.
- Los Angeles, Californiain 1971.
References
- ^ "XA-JED Aeroméxico McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30". planespotters.net. January 22, 2012. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
- ^ "FAA Registry (N4891F)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ "Jet, plane collide near L.A." Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). wire reports. September 1, 1986. p. A1. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- Aviation Safety Network. Archivedfrom the original on September 2, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
- ^ "Airliners.net – Aviation Photography, Discussion Forums & News". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
- ^ Magnuson, Ed (June 24, 2001). "Collision in the 'Birdcage'". Time. Archived from the original January 27, 2008.
- ^ Carollo, Russell; Caldwell, Bert (September 2, 1986). "Ex-Spokanite piloted plane that hit DC-9". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. A1. Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
- ^ located at these coordinates: 33°51′55.76″N 118°2′23.97″W / 33.8654889°N 118.0399917°W
- ^ "The Story of Cerritos: Chapter 8 1976–1986 – Growth, Development and an Unnatural Disaster". City of Cerritos. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
- ^ "Aircraft Collision Over Los Angeles Suburb", (diagram) Daily Herald (Chicago), September 2, 1986, p. 6
- ^ "Collision Victims on DC-9" Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. September 2, 1986. Tuesday, Late City Final Edition. Section D, Page 17, Column 5. National Desk.
- Orange County Register. Archivedfrom the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- ^ "Pilot of plane suffered heart attack". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). wire services. September 2, 1986. p. A1. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ "14 CFR § 135.180 - Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System".
- ^ "Federal Register :: Request Access".
- ^ Gerber, Larry, AP, "1986 Cerritos crash changed the way we fly," The Intelligencer Record (Doylestown, Pa.), September 1, 1996, p A-13
- from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
- ^ "Electronic Code of Federal Regulations". Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- ^ "Devastating Collision On Flight 498 | Out Of Sight | Mayday: Air Disaster". YouTube. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2021. - The content showing Estrada discussing witnessing AM498 is at about 14:30. Access date from a different URL.
- ^ "Thing v. La Chusa | Case Brief for Law Students". Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ In Re Air Crash Disaster Near Cerritos, 967 F.2d 1421 Archived November 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine (9th Cir.1992)
- ^ "AeroMéxico (AM) #498 ✈ FlightAware". Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
- National Geographic Channel.
- National Geographic Channel.
- ^ "Air Controller's Nightmare: 'I Lost an Airplane'". Los Angeles Times. December 3, 1986. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- ^ "13 Mind-Blowing Things You Never Noticed In 'Breaking Bad'". Tell Tales. telltalesonline. June 21, 2015. Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![]() | This section's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (August 2016) |
- NTSB.gov, Brief of Accident, NTSB, adopted March 7, 1988
- NTSB Safety Recommendation Letter (Alternate)