Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, later known as Andes flight disaster and The Miracle of the Andes, was a chartered flight that originated in Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile. The aircraft began descending too early to reach Pudahuel Airport, and struck a mountain, initially shearing off both wings and the tail section. The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters, and friends. It is the only known crash of a Fairchild FH-227D aircraft in the history of the Uruguayan air force.
About Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in brief
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, later known as Andes flight disaster and The Miracle of the Andes, was a chartered flight that originated in Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile. The aircraft began descending too early to reach Pudahuel Airport, and struck a mountain, initially shearing off both wings and the tail section. The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters, and friends. The wreck was located at an elevation of 3,570 metres in the remote Andes Mountains in far western Argentina, near the border with Chile. Three crew members and eight passengers died immediately, and several others died soon afterward due to the frigid temperatures and their serious injuries. During the next 72 days, 13 more passengers died. The remaining survivors reluctantly resorted to cannibalism. On December 23, 1972, 72 days after the crash, 16 survivors were rescued. The wreckage was found near the town of Curicó, in the far western part of the country, about 200 kilometres from the Chilean capital Santiago. It is the only known crash of a Fairchild FH-227D aircraft in the history of the Uruguayan air force. The Fairchild was four years old and had 792 airframe hours under command. It was regarded by some pilots as some of the best in the world at the time of the crash. The crash site is now the site of a major tourist attraction, the National Museum of Natural History of Uruguay, which is dedicated to the memory of those who died on the flight.
The remains of the Fairchild are still visible in the mountains of northern Argentina and southern Chile, and the wreckage has been preserved in a museum for more than 40 years. The site is also the location of a memorial to those who were killed in the crash in the 1970s and 1980s. The memorial is located at the National Memorial of Natural Remembrance of Uruguay and is located in the city of Montevideo. It has been named after the Old Christian Club, a rugby team from Montevideo that played a match against the Old Boys Club, an English rugby team, in Santiago in 1972. The team members invited a few friends and family members to accompany them, and one of them bought a seat so she could attend her oldest daughter’s wedding. The plane was carrying 40 passengers and 5 crew members. The pilot waited and took off at 2:18 p.m. on Friday 13 October from Mendoza. The weather on that morning had not improved but changes were expected by the early afternoon. Colonel Julio César Ferradas was an experienced Air Force pilot who had a total of 5,117 flying hours. He was accompanied by co-pilot Lieutenant-Colonel Dante Héctor Lagurara. On this flight he was training-p pilot who was the pilot of the FA71, which was under the command of Lieutenant Héctors Lagurar. Pilot Ferrada radioed the Malargüe airport with their position.
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This page is based on the article Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
