American Airlines Flight 965
American Airlines Flight 965 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia. On December 20, 1995, the Boeing 757-200 flying this route (registration N651AA) crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia, around 9:40 pm killing 151 of the 155 passengers and all eight crew members.
Wreckage of N651AA at the crash site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 20, 1995 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error and loss of situational awareness |
| Site | Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia 3°50′45.2″N 76°06′17.1″W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 757–223 |
| Operator | American Airlines |
| IATA flight No. | AA965 |
| ICAO flight No. | AAL965 |
| Call sign | AMERICAN 965 |
| Registration | N651AA |
| Flight origin | Miami International Airport, Florida, United States |
| Destination | Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport, Cali, Colombia |
| Occupants | 163 |
| Passengers | 155 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 159 |
| Injuries | 4 |
| Survivors | 4 |
The crash was the first U.S.-owned 757 accident and is currently the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Colombia. It was also the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 757 at that time, but was surpassed by Birgenair Flight 301 which crashed seven weeks later with 189 fatalities. Flight 965 was the deadliest air disaster involving a U.S. carrier since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.
The Colombian Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics investigated the accident and determined it was caused by navigational errors by the flight crew.