COPA 201 crash (1992)

I bought my tickets! I'll be flying COPA, a Panamanian airline. I will fly to Lima and return from Bogota, stopping at Panama City both ways. Here is a video of the flight from Panama City to Lima. Even though I've been to the Panama City airport once, I have absolutely no recollection of any of its details.

This will be my first time flying COPA. My habit is to look up any and all air disasters related to any new foreign airline I am flying. That's how I discovered COPA 201. It was a 1992 flight from Panama City to Cali, Colombia. It mysteriously crashed into the Darien Gap(!). Here is an excellent Nova documentary about the crash investigation. Just the theme music from this PBS show brings back memories of my high school days.

DISCLAIMER: GRAPHIC CRASH SITE IMAGES

The documentary is worth watching for a number of reasons. First, it's a professional journalistic piece. There is no hype. Just the facts. The camera crew followed the NTSB team from beginning to end, and had incredible access. It's also neat to just see what people were wearing in the early 1990s.

For those that don't want to watch it, the 737 crashed because the wire for the gyroscope was loose.