Hello subscribers! Welcome back to Simply Aviation where today we take a look into the world’s most dangerous airline!

Thank you to Teja Y. for asking me to write about this topic!

Aerosucre is a cargo airline based in Bogotá, Columbia. It began operation in 1969 and operates scheduled cargo services throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Its home base is El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá. Aerosucre has been involved in a number of accidents and incidents during its lifetime, and more recently, internet videos have emerged showcasing reckless behavior by its pilots.

Aerosucre’s Fleet

Aerosucre has one of the oldest fleets currently with its airplanes having an average age of 40 years! Aerosucre currently has a fleet of six aircraft, which include:

• Three Boeing 727-300s

• Two Boeing 737-200s and

• One Boeing 737-300

For reference, these plane models started production in the early 1970s! Now, with proper maintenance and good piloting, some airlines have been able to successfully use aircraft that are over 50 years old without issues, but as you will see when I show you what Aerosucre incidents have occurred over the years, it will become obvious that Aerosucre is not one of them. From poor maintenance to bad decision-making, many factors have led to Aerosucre receiving its reputation. In fact, the airline actually used to have a fleet of 16 aircraft but is down to six now because they crashed 10 of them!

Aerosucre Incidents

As said already, there have been many Aerosucre incidents, so many that I can’t even list all of them here. As a result, I will just be going over the major ones.

Plane Barely Avoids Crashing into Houses

This incident occurred at Puerto Canero, where an Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 departed runway 07 and an engine overheated. As a result of the overheating, the engine lost thrust and prevent the aircraft from gaining lift fast enough. In this situation, the pilots should have made the decision to abort take-off, but instead, they just kept on going.

Luckily, the pilots were able to get the plane off the ground, but just barely, and by barely, I mean barely! The plane barely avoided the fence at the end of the runway and the houses located nearby. The plane also clipped the top of a tree and vegetation was found in one of the plane’s engines after it had landed. Here’s a video of doorbell footage that was captured from a house near the runway.

You can see how the trees sway as the plane just manages to avoid them. To make this even more terrifying, this incident just happened a little over a year ago, on February 3rd, 2022!

Now, in the incident that we just saw, the plane was, fortunately, able to land safely at Puerto Canero, but let’s now take a look at an instance where the pilots were not so lucky.

Plane Fails to Become Airborne, Causing it to Fly through a Fence

This incident also occurred at Puerto Canero, Columbia, but in this case, the crash, unfortunately, became fatal due to some poor flight planning.

In this case, the plane, (another 727-200), was barely able to gain any lift, causing it to crash into the fence at the end of the airport and a tree. This caused the right landing gear to fall off along with a part of the flaps. This also caused a fire in the right engine, causing the plane to lose even more lift.

The aircraft then stayed airborne for a while, reaching a maximum altitude of about 800 ft, when it finally crashed after a period of 3 minutes, 5 miles from the airport. A fire then followed the crash. Unfortunately, of the 5 crew, three passed away, and two were rescued alive. One of the survivors then died at the hospital, having suffered severe injuries.

After the crash, it was found that the cause of it was poor flight planning. Officials found that the weight of the airplane was greater than the maximum takeoff weight of the plane when you factor in the environmental conditions. The excess weight prevented the aircraft from gaining enough lift in time, causing it to crash into the fence. This incident occurred six years before the previous incident.

Here is a horrifying video of the plane crashing into the fence, narrowly missing pedestrians and motorcyclists below (Watch the first 22 Seconds):

This video provides another angle.

While the previous two incidents were very extreme, this one is just ridiculous.

Plane Lands with Cargo Door Open

Pilots on a flight that had just taken off from an airport in Mitú had to make an emergency landing back to Mitú because the cargo door opened mid-flight! On the final approach, the cargo door was wide open but closed as the aircraft landed. In Aerosucre fashion, the landing wasn’t so great, either.

Here is a video that shows the aircraft landing.

Well, that is the end of my article and I am sure that you now know why Aerosucre is considered the world’s most dangerous airline! I will see you again next time

PS: Be sure to search for Aerosucre incidents on Google/YouTube…. You will see dozens of results of planes being overloaded and just barely able to gain enough lift!

Here is a video that shows more Aerosucre incidents: