TAN-SAHSA Flight 414
N88705, the aircraft involved in the accident, at Miami International Airport in 1989 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 21 October 1989 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain on approach due to low visibility and pilot error |
| Site | Cerro de Hula, 9 km (5.6 mi; 4.9 nmi) south of Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras 13°56′43″N 87°14′27″W / 13.94521°N 87.24084°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 727-224 |
| Operator | TAN-SAHSA |
| IATA flight No. | SH414 |
| ICAO flight No. | SHA414 |
| Call sign | SAHSA 414 |
| Registration | N88705 |
| Flight origin | Juan Santamaría International Airport, San José, Costa Rica |
| Stopover | Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, Managua, Nicaragua |
| Destination | Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras |
| Occupants | 146 |
| Passengers | 138 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 131 |
| Injuries | 15 |
| Survivors | 15 |
TAN-SAHSA Flight 414 was a scheduled flight from Juan Santamaría International Airport, San José, Costa Rica to Toncontín Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with a stopover at Augusto C. Sandino Airport in Managua, Nicaragua on 21 October 1989. Flown with a Boeing 727-200, the flight crashed into a mountain at 7:30 A.M. local time after the pilots failed to follow a special landing procedure required for the arrival to the airport. The crash killed 131 passengers, leaving 15 survivors (including all three pilots). While 20 passengers initially survived, five died before treatment, due to a delay in rescue personnel because of bad weather. It remains, as of 2025, the worst aviation accident on Honduran soil and in Central America at large; it is also the 15th deadliest involving a Boeing 727.