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Faucett Flight 251

Accident summary
Date	29 February 1996
Type	controlled flight into terrain on approach
Site	Arequipa, Peru
Passengers	117
Crew	6
Injuries	0
Fatalities	123
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-222
Operator	Compañía de Aviación Faucett
Tail number	OB-1451
Flight origin	Jorge Chávez International Airport, Lima, Peru
Stopover	Rodríguez Ballón International Airport, Arequipa, Peru
Destination	Crnl. FAP Carlos Ciriani Santa Rosa International Airport, Tacna, Peru

Faucett Flight 251 was a flight that crashed on February 29, 1996, while on approach to Rodriguez Ballon Airport in Arequipa, Peru. The airplane was a Boeing 737-222, registration OB-1451, built in 1968. All 123 people on board died in the accident.

The accident was a controlled flight into terrain: the aircraft was flown into the ground while attempting to land. The crew had been issued an outdated barometric altimeter setting after bypassing an ILS signal, causing them to fly 1000 feet lower than the altitude they believed they were flying at. The crew were under the impression that the aircraft was at 9500 feet, when in fact they were flying at 8644 feet. The elevation of Rodriguez Ballon Airport is 8404 feet.

While on a VOR/DME approach to Runway 09, the aircraft crashed into hills in the middle of its flight path at 8015 feet. The aft section broke off on impact, and the main fuselage section continued to fly past the initial ridge and impacted near the top of the second one. The tail section fell into a crevasse between the two ridges.

Contributing factors to the accident were poor visibility due to nighttime (2025 local time) darkness and the heavy fog spread over the mountains at the time of approach.

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Peru	66	6	72
Chile	42	0	42
Belgium	3	0	3
Canada	2	0	2
Bolivia	2	0	2
Brazil	1	0	1
Argentina	1	0	1
Total	117	6	123

See also

	Peru portal
	Aviation portal

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network

← 1995 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1996 1997→ Air Africa crash (January 8) — Birgenair Flight 301 (February 6) — Faucett Flight 251 (February 29) — 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash (April 3) — ValuJet Flight 592 (May 11) — Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 (June 9) — Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 (July 6) — TWA Flight 800 (July 17) — Spair Airlines Flight PAR-3601 (August 19) — Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 (August 29) — Aeroperú Flight 603 (October 2) — TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 (October 31) — Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision (Saudi Arabian 763 and Air Kazakhstan 1907) (November 12) — United Express Flight 5925 (November 19) — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (November 23) — 1996 New Hampshire Learjet crash (December 24) Bold blue indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths — Red indicates the deadliest incident in 1996