Birgenair Flight 301
TC-GEN, The aircraft involved in the accident on July 1995 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 February 1996 |
| Summary | Device malfunction due to blocked pitot tube; pilot error causing stall and crash into the ocean |
| Site | 26 km (16 mi; 14 nmi) NE of Gregorio Luperón International Airport Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 19°54′50″N 70°24′20″W / 19.91389°N 70.40556°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 757-225 |
| Operator | Birgenair |
| IATA flight No. | KT301 |
| ICAO flight No. | ALW301 |
| Call sign | ALPHA LIMA WHISKY 301 |
| Registration | TC-GEN |
| Flight origin | Gregorio Luperón International Airport Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic |
| 1st stopover | Gander International Airport Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada |
| 2nd stopover | Berlin Schönefeld Airport Berlin, Germany |
| Destination | Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt, Germany |
| Occupants | 189 |
| Passengers | 176 |
| Crew | 13 |
| Fatalities | 189 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Birgenair Flight 301 was a flight chartered by Turkish-managed Birgenair partner Alas Nacionales from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic to Frankfurt, Germany, via Gander, Canada, and Berlin, Germany. On 6 February 1996, the Boeing 757-200 operating the route crashed shortly after take-off from Puerto Plata's Gregorio Luperón International Airport, killing all 189 people on board. The cause was pilot error after receiving incorrect airspeed information from one of the pitot tubes, which investigators believe was blocked by a wasp nest built inside it. The aircraft had been sitting unused for 20 days, and without pitot tube covers in place for the two days preceding the crash.
Flight 301 is tied with American Airlines Flight 77 as the deadliest aviation incident involving a Boeing 757, having a total of 189 fatalities. Furthermore, Flight 301 is the deadliest aviation accident ever to have occurred in the Dominican Republic. Before 1996, the deadliest aviation accident in the Dominican Republic was the crash of a Dominicana de Aviacion DC-9 in 1970, which killed 102.