Challenger 300 overruns runway 05 at San Fernando, 2024

Preliminary reportRunway overrunFatal

The short version

LV-GOK was flying back to San Fernando with only its two pilots on board. It landed on runway 05, which is 1,690 m long, ran past the end and through the airport fence, and stopped among trees at a street corner about 230 m beyond the runway. The fuselage caught fire and both pilots died. The JST has published a preliminary report only, so there are no causes or conclusions yet.

What happened

  1. Earlier that day, LV-GOK flies from San Fernando to Laguna del Sauce in Uruguay with passengers.

  2. The return leg is a positioning flight of about 35 minutes back to San Fernando, with the two pilots only.

  3. About this time the aircraft lands on runway 05. It passes the end of the runway, crosses the grass and breaks through the perimeter fence.

  4. It stops about 230 m past the runway end and about 30 m beyond the fence, at the corner of Charlin and José Terry streets. Both wings hit trees and fuel spreads over the area. The centre fuselage catches fire.

  5. The emergency locator transmitter sends its first satellite alert. The last one comes at 1624.

  6. 2 min 38 s after the excursion began, the airport fire trucks pass taxiway Charlie. At 4 min 37 s they start spraying, but the stream does not reach the fuselage.

  7. At 9 min 08 s, extinguishing agent reaches the centre fuselage. At 10 min 07 s the main fire truck runs out of water and leaves to refill.

  8. At 20 min 48 s a municipal fire truck and a tanker arrive. The airport truck returns at 33 min 51 s.

Clock times are as printed in the preliminary report, whose time reference is unclear. Elapsed times count from the moment the aircraft began the runway excursion, as seen on a hangar security camera.

Four photographs of the burned wreckage in a residential street: the forward fuselage beside a house, burned debris next to a burned-out car, a wing lying against fallen trees, and the burned rear fuselage and engines.
The wreckage of LV-GOK at the street corner beyond the airport fence, after the fire. A car in the street was also destroyed.Source: Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (JST), preliminary report, Figure 2
View across a grass area of the wreckage in the street, with yellow labels in Spanish marking the left wing and the impact marks of both wings on trees.
The wreckage seen across the grass. The labels, in Spanish, mark the left wing and where the left and right wings struck trees at the street corner.Source: Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (JST), preliminary report, Figure 23

The flight deck kept its structure after the fire. The door into the passenger cabin was closed and tilted upward about 45°, with signs that its opening mechanism had been used. Investigators could not tell by whom or when. The emergency exit in the middle of the cabin was destroyed. Volunteer firefighters from the municipality carried out the rescue work in the flight deck.1

Two photographs of the forward fuselage. In the first it rests against a street railing, with a yellow label in Spanish marking the damaged right windshield. In the second, yellow labels in Spanish mark the door into the passenger cabin and the position of its opening mechanism.
The forward fuselage after the fire. The flight deck kept its shape. The labels, in Spanish, mark damage to the right windshield, the door into the passenger cabin and the position of its opening mechanism. Rescue crews told the JST the windshield damage came from the rescue work.Source: Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (JST), preliminary report, Figure 35

Runway 05 has 1,690 m available for landing. Beyond its end there is a runway end safety area of 90 m by 60 m. There is no stopway, no clearway and no arresting system. ADS-B data showed that the accident approach differed significantly from LV-GOK's ten previous approaches to runway 05. The JST is waiting for the flight data recorder readout before it analyses this. Both recorders were recovered. The fuel at the airport was tested and found suitable.1

Why it happened

  1. The JST has not stated any cause. The preliminary report gives facts only. Analysis, conclusions and safety recommendations will come in the final report. Weather, medical, crew and flight data information were all still being worked on when it was released. The report does not say which pilot was flying, the crew's flying hours, the landing weight, the wind or the state of the runway.1

  2. The report does record conditions at the airport fire station. Disused aircraft in the fire service area, not tied down and several without chocks, hindered the fire trucks. Firefighters said none of the trucks could cross an open drainage ditch at the edge of their apron, and that the water refill point lacked the pressure to fill the tanks quickly. The JST is still looking into the water supply.1

  3. An obstacle survey from 2022 showed buildings, poles and trees penetrating the obstacle surfaces near both thresholds. Between 2014 and 2024 the JST recorded 7 runway excursions at San Fernando, this accident among them. In 2014 another aircraft overran runway 23 and stopped 140 m past the paved surface.1

There are no recommendations yet.

What a crew can take from it

  1. The JST has not found a cause yet. Its preliminary report gives facts only. The points below come from those facts. None of them says what this crew did or did not do.

  2. Know what lies past the runway end. Runway 05 at San Fernando has 1,690 m available for landing and a runway end safety area of 90 m. There is no stopway and no arresting system. Past the airport fence are streets and houses. The JST counted 7 runway excursions at this airport between 2014 and 2024.

  3. Fire and rescue cover at a busy small airport may be stretched. Here the airport fire trucks started spraying after 4 min 37 s and first reached the centre fuselage after 9 min 08 s. The report describes parked aircraft and a drainage ditch in their way, and a slow water refill.

Study it on the course

Sources

  1. Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte. Informe Preliminar, Accidente, Bombardier BD100-1A10 Challenger 300, LV-GOK, Aeropuerto Internacional de San Fernando, Buenos Aires, 18 de diciembre de 2024. File EX-2024-138819184-APN-DNISAE#JST. Released 17 January 2025. Fuente: Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte, 2025.
  2. JST, release notice for the preliminary report, 17 January 2025.
  3. JST, Informe Básico (initial notice), December 2024.
  4. Aviation Safety Network, occurrence 467295.

Last updated 22 October 2026

For study only. Always use the approved AFM, QRH and operator procedures.