Description

On 7 December 1983, a Boeing 727-200 (EC-CFJ) being operated by Iberia on a scheduled passenger flight from Madrid to Rome Fiumicino as IB 350 collided in thick fog in daylight with a Douglas DC-9-30 (EC-CGS) being operated by Aviaco on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid to Santander as AO 134. Both aircraft caught fire immediately after the impact and both were subsequently destroyed. All 42 occupants of the DC-9 were killed as were 51 of the occupants of the 727 with 42 others on board the latter surviving with unspecified levels of injury. There was also extensive consequential damage to the runway surface and signage.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC). FDR data as recovered from both aircraft and CVR data was recovered from the 727, The DC-9 was not fitted with a CVR and because of grandfather rights was not required to be. The usefulness of the FDR data was limited by the small number of parameters recorded on the metallic tape mechanism used by both of them. Extraction of data from the DC-9 FDR was difficult and required special methods.