AIRES Flight 8250

AIRES Flight 8250 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that on 16 August 2010 crashed on landing at night in poor weather on the Colombian island of San Andrés, killing two of the 131 people on board. The aircraft, an AIRES-operated Boeing 737-700, was arriving from the Colombian capital Bogotá when it heavily touched down short of the runway, breaking up in three sections.

The official investigation concluded that the crash was caused by the misjudgment by the crew of the aircraft's altitude during the last phase of the approach.

Flight 8250 was operated by the local, privately owned Colombian airline AIRES. The aircraft was on a flight from Bogotá to the Colombian island of San Andrés, in the Caribbean. A popular tourist destination, San Andres Island is about 190 kilometres (120 mi; 100 nmi) east of the Nicaraguan coast.

The flight took off from Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport at 00:07 en route to Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport with 125 passengers and six crew. Captain Wilson Gutierrez (43) was the pilot flying (PF) while First Officer Camilo Piñeros Rodriguez (25) was the pilot monitoring (PM).

The crash occurred as the aircraft landed at San Andrés at 1:49 am local Western Caribbean Time (UTC−05:00). The Boeing 737 broke up into three main sections. The impact occurred about 260 feet (80 m) before the start of the runway, with wreckage spread about another 328 feet (100 m). The aircraft skidded along the runway; the landing gear collapsed and one engine was ripped off the wing. The aircraft's nose and first eight rows of seating came to rest on the runway pointing in a different direction from the rest of the wreckage. Airport fire crews quickly doused a small fire that had started on a wing. As a result of the accident, the Regional Committee for Disaster Prevention and Attention (Spanish: Comité Regional de Prevención y Atención de Desastres) was mobilized.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-73V, registration HK-4682, with serial number (MSN) 32416, construction number 1270. The aircraft was built in 2003 and was first delivered to EasyJet registered as G-EZJU. It was then sold to AIRES in March 2010. Investigators said the day after the crash that the aircraft's maintenance log was up to date.

There were contradictory reports as to how many people were aboard the aircraft. Reports range from 121 passengers and six crew members, 131 passengers and crew, and at least 127 people aboard. The report of 131 people was further broken down as 121 adult passengers and four minors. Reports the day after the accident settled on 131 people aboard: 125 passengers and six crew.

One early report stated that 114 people were injured in the crash, and that of 99 passengers taken to the Amor de Patria Hospital on San Andrés, only four had had major injuries. Reports a day later settled on a figure of 119 people being taken to local hospitals, mostly with minor injuries. Thirteen survivors, including four with serious injuries, were flown to Bogotá for treatment.