Date:	Saturday 21 October 1989
Time:	07:53
Type:	Boeing 727-224
Owner/operator:	TAN Honduras - Transportes Aéreos Nacionales
Registration:	N88705
MSN:	19514/597
Year of manufacture:	1968
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 131 / Occupants: 146
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	9 km S of Tegucigalpa-Toncontin Airport (TGU) -   Honduras
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Managua-Augusto C. Sandino Airport (MGA/MNMG)
Destination airport:	Tegucigalpa-Toncontin Airport (TGU/MHTG)
Confidence Rating:	Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities

Narrative:
TAN-SAHSA flight 414, a Boeing 727-200 was a scheduled service from San José (SJO), Costa Rica to Tegucigalpa (TGU), Honduras with an intermediate stop at Managua (MGA), Nicaragua.
At the end of the final leg of the flight, the crew were cleared by Tegucigalpa ATC for the VOR/DME runway 01 approach, which includes a series of three step-downs from the initial approach fix altitude of 7500 ft MSL to avoid high terrain in the neighborhood of the airport. Rather than following the prescribed step-down procedure, however, the crew began a continuous descent from about 7600 ft MSL at about 11 NM from the airport to the accident site. The aircraft’s descent profile was well below the published step-down course for the entire approach. The aircraft impacted a mountain known as Cerro de Hula at the 4800 ft MSL elevation, approximately 800 ft below the summit, 4.8 NM from the Tegucigalpa runway 01 threshold. At impact, the aircraft was in approach configuration.

Investigation of Controlled Flight into Terrain : Descriptions of Flight Paths for Selected Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) Aircraft Accidents, 1985-1997 / Robert O. Phillips, U.S. DoT (DOT-TSC-FA9D1-99-01)
ICAO Adrep Summary 1/90 (#12)

photo (c) Alexander Josue Hernandez; 08 May 2017

photo (c) FAA

photo (c) via W. Fischdick; Miami International Airport, FL (MIA); March 1989

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