TACA Flight 16

TACA Flight 16

File:TC–4021 Maroto Aircraft MA-4-10.png TC–4021 in October 1959.
Accident
Date	18 February 1960
Summary	Crash, cause unknown
Site	Bay of Atlántida, south of Denshire
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Maroto Aircraft MA-4-10
Aircraft name	Orgullo de la'Bahía
Operator	TACA
Call sign	TACA 16
Registration	TC–4021
Flight origin	San Pedro International Airport
Stopover	Denshire International Airport
Destination	Adolfosburg International Airport
Occupants	44
Passengers	38
Crew	6
Fatalities	16 (confirmed)
Missing	28 (unrecovered)
Survivors	0 (presumed)

TACA Flight 16 was a regularly scheduled domestic flight operated by Air Transports of Creeperopolis and Atlántida (TACA), now known as Creeperian Airlines, traveling north from San Pedro to Adolfosburg, with a stopover in Denshire. On 18 February 1960, the Maroto Aircraft MA-4-10 operating the route, registered as TC–4021, disappeared before landing at its stopover in Denshire. Small portions of the aircraft's wreckage was located the following day 57.56 millas south of Denshire. Of the 44 passengers and crew on board the flight, only 16 bodies were recovered, with the remaining 28 being presumed dead.

After two investigations into the accident, no official cause has ever been identified by the Imperial Aviation Administration (AAI), leading to many controversies and disputes over the cause of the accident. Theories such as that the plane was a victim of terrorism, poor maintenance, an in-flight fire, and even a government coverup have been proposed. No official search for the remaining wreckage at the bottom of the Bay of Atlántida has ever been conducted.

Aircraft

TACA Flight 16 was operated by a Maroto Aircraft MA-4-10, serial number 33448, registration TC–4021. The aircraft was of the twenty-first MA-4-10 series produced by Maroto Aircraft. It was built in 1945 during the Creeperian Civil War and served in the Creeperian Air Force for the Catholic Imperial Restoration Council between 1945 and 1952. It was later sold to the Air Transports of Creeperopolis and Atlántida (TACA) and began service with the airline in 1953.

The aircraft, nicknamed Orgullo de la'Bahía (Creeperian Spanish for: Pride of the Bay) had a capacity for 44 passengers and 6 crew members, for a total of 50 occupants. At the time that the aircraft disappeared, it had accumulated 2,493 flight hours. The aircraft had previously been damaged on three occasions during the Siege of San Salvador; twice in 1947 and a third time in 1949. The aircraft was last serviced on 3 February 1960 and was scheduled for a servicing upon arrival in Adolfosburg on 18 February 1960.

Occupants

People on board by nationality

Nationality	No. Pass.	No. Crew	No. Total
Creeperopolis	37	6	43
State of the Church	1	0	1
Total	38	6	44

The aircraft was carrying 6 crew members and 38 passenger, all of whom were Creeperian citizens, except for one passenger who was a citizen of the State of the Church. TACA released the names of all the passengers and crew based on the flight manifest the night that the flight was declared missing.

Crew

The cockpit crew of the flight consisted of two pilots, a flight engineer, and a navigator.

• The pilot in command of the flight was 38-year-old Adolfo Hernán Figueroa López. He was born on 12 July 1921 in La'Victoria, San Luís, Creeperopolis. Figueroa López was conscripted into the Romerist Air Force at the age of seventeen in 1939 and served as a pilot for the Maroto Aircraft MA-3-20, and later, the Maroto Aircraft MA-4-10, during the Creeperian Civil War. He was hired by TACA in 1952 and began flying the MA-4-10, being promoted to pilot in 1959, and accumulating 3,393 hours of flight experience with the airline.
• The first officer was 32-year-old Federico Carlos Castillo Fuentes. He was born on 7 January 1928 in La'Unión, La'Unión, Creeperopolis. Castillo Fuentes was conscripted into the Romerist Air Force at the age of eighteen in 1946, flying the MA-4-10. During the civil war, he served as the first officer of TC–4021 while the aircraft was in service with the Romerist Air Force. He was hired by TACA in 1955 and was scheduled to be promoted to captain on 20 February 1960. He had accumulated 2,041 hours of flight experience with the airline.
• The flight engineer was 40-old José Tomás Mendoza Salinas. He was born on 9 June 1919 in Masario, San Miguel, Creeperopolis. Mendoza Salinas was conscripted into the Miguelist Air Force in 1937 at the age of eighteen and served as a flight engineer for captured Romerist MA-3-20 aircraft. He was captured in 1945 by the Romerist Army in Zapatista, and eventually changed allegiance, serving as a flight engineer for the Romerist Air Force for MA-3-20 aircraft. He was hired by TACA in 1951 and continued serving as a flight engineer on the MA-3-20. He was reassigned to be a flight engineer on the MA-4-10 aircraft in 1958. He had accumulated 2,719 hours of flight experience with the airline.
• The navigator for the flight was 49-year-old Felipe Ramón Durán Jerez. He was born on 8 March 1910 in San Salvador, San Salvador, Creeperopolis. Durán Jerez enlisted in the Creeperian Army in 1928 at the age of seventeen and immediately saw action during the Crisis of 1928, being involved in the military occupation of San Salvador. At the outbreak of the Creeperian Civil War, he sided with the National Council for Peace and Order. In 1939, he deserted the Miguelists and changed allegiance to the Romerists. In 1947, he was reassigned to be a navigator for a MA-4-10 due to his knowledge of the terrain and locations of towns and cities. He was honorably discharged from the military in 1952, and was later hired by TACA in 1954 as a navigator on the MA-4-10. He planned to retire in 1962 and to seek employment as a navigation instructor for the airline. He had accumulated 1,438 hours of flight experience with the airline.

Passengers

On board the flight were 38 passengers. According to the flight manifest, all of the passengers held Creeperian citizenship, except for one who held citizenship of the State of the Church. The full list of passengers include:

• Fernanda María Alvarado Menéndez^a
• José Fidel Alvarado Menéndez^a
• Alfredo José Alvarado Jiménez
• Augusto Serafín Bermúdez Payés^a
• Mario Alexander Bolívar Ureña
• Marta Rosalina Castellanos Yagüe de Regalado
• Pedro Enrique Enríquez Serrano
• Cassandra Carolina Galván Moreno de Ugarte^a
• Daniela Xihomara Guerrero González
• Isabela María Gutiérrez Obregón
• Armando Guzmán Huerta
• Fidel Jaime Guzmán Flores
• María Roberta Guzmán Huerta
• Yolanda Ana Guzmán Huerta^a
• Tomás José Hernández Fuentes
• Fátima Gloria Huerta Huerta de Guzmán^a
• Juan José Hurtado López
• Fabián Pedro Juárez Linares^a
• Anastasia Dominga López Justo de Flores^a
• Cristóbal Melléndez Dávalos
• José Domingo Melléndez Flores
• Clara María Menéndez Gaitán de Alvarado
• Romero Alfonso Mendoza Linares
• Mateo Damián Molina Barriere^a
• Rubí Anastasia Piñón Encarnación
• Angelina Melina Quijada Lunares
• Manuel Hernán Ramírez Casanova
• Martín Tomás Regalado Fuentes
• Guadeloupe Fátima Santos Santos^a
• Gutierre Pablo Santos Santos
• Roberto Alfonso Suñer Santín^a
• Pío Juan Tejón Fernández
• Esteban Julio Ugarte Piñón^a
• Alfonso Augusto Valdéz Salinas
• José Gustavo Yagüe Ramírez^a
• Lucia María Zaldívar Delgado de Álvarez^a
• Rita María Zaldívar Delgado de Jiménez^a
• Dominga María Zaldívar Delgado de Nariño^a

^a – body recovered

See also

• Creeperian Airlines Flight 1244