Western Airlines Flight 2605

Western Airlines Flight 2605

N903WA, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date	October 31, 1979 (1979-10-31)
Summary	Crashed into construction vehicle while landing on a closed runway
Site	Mexico City Int'l Airport, Mexico City, Mexico 19°26′11″N 99°04′20″W / 19.43639°N 99.07222°W / 19.43639; -99.07222
Total fatalities	73
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10
Operator	Western Airlines
IATA flight No.	WA2605
ICAO flight No.	WAL2605
Call sign	WESTERN 2605
Registration	N903WA
Flight origin	Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, California, United States
Destination	Mexico City International Airport Mexico City, Mexico
Occupants	88[1]: 108
Passengers	75[1]: 108
Crew	13
Fatalities	72
Injuries	15
Survivors	16[1]: 108
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	1

Western Airlines Flight 2605, nicknamed the "Night Owl",^[2] was an international scheduled passenger flight from Los Angeles, California, to Mexico City, Mexico. On October 31, 1979, at 5:42 a.m. CST (UTC−06:00), the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 used on the flight crashed at Mexico City International Airport in fog after landing on a runway that was closed for maintenance. Of the 88 occupants on board, 72 were killed, in addition to a maintenance worker who died when the plane struck his vehicle.^[1]

Flight 2605 remains the deadliest air accident to have occurred in Mexico City. The event is the third-deadliest aviation accident on Mexican soil after the crashes of two Boeing 727s: the 1969 crash of Mexicana de Aviación Flight 704 and that of Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940 in 1986.^[3] The crash was one of three fatal DC-10 accidents in 1979 and occurred just over five months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and less than a month before the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mount Erebus in Antarctica.