Caipira Airways Flight 307
Summary
Caipira Airways Flight 307 was a scheduled commercial flight from Los Santos International Airport (LSX) to Liberty City International Airport (SLC) on Monday August 29th 2013. Flight 307 took off from Los Santos at 15:53 PST, 33 minutes after its scheduled departure of 15:20 PST. 6 minutes into its flight, the plane hit of group of birds, destroying engines 2 and 3. The plane immediately contacted Air Traffic Control and requested to return to Los Santos. Air Traffic Control declared a mayday alert and cleared the plane to land on Runway 32. In order to complete a safe landing, the Boeing 747 would have to manoeuvre a 90 degree turn, something which the pilots did not know they could achieve as they had lost 2 engines. As the plane started its procedure, the weight gained from the engine loss caused the left wing to shatter and tear off of the plane. The Jumbo Jet then fell into a free fall before plummeting into the Tongva Hills. All 347 passengers and 16 crew were killed, along with 3 people on the ground caught in the falling debris field. It is the worst aviation disaster to ever happen in The United States. Los Santos Police, Ambulance and Fire Services all arrived on the scene within 10 minutes. The fire spread from the destroyed plane to the dry marram grass on the side of the hills. It took 5 hours for the fire to be put out. Emergency Aid from across the state arrived in a matter of hours to assist the Los Santos Emergency Services. Caipira Airlines soon filed for bankruptcy after it lost 97% of its customers in November 2013. They then fell into liquidation and lost their licenses and staff. Their fleet of 6 Boeing 747’s, 32 Boeing 737’s and 16 Boeing 767’s were bought by Fly US, Adios Airlines and NorthWestern Airlines in the months following the disaster. The families of the victims of Flight 307 were paid a total of $27 million in compensation and received free meetings from elite mental health experts as how to deal with the sudden loss of loved ones, paid for in full by Los Santos International and the United States Government.
Aftermath
In the days and weeks following the disaster, all Boeing 747’s were to receive extensive searches on all engines and wings to make sure in the event of another bird strike, the wing can’t detach from the plane and can handle extra weight. The disaster cost Boeing over $17 million in damages and compensation fees. The Flight 307 Victims fund was set up on September 14th 2013 to help the families of the victims and assured the public they would hold Boeing to account until they find “concrete evidence” that they have fixed all possible malfunctions and errors on their planes. The Flight 307 memorial sits where the plane hit the ground in the Tongva Hills. Much like the 9/11 Memorial site, it too lists the names of the victims from that day, as well as the 16 crew members who also perished.