The aircraft was an Airbus A320-233. It was built in 2000 and entered service with TACA in 2001. The aircraft was leased twice to Cubana de Avacion and Martinair in 2001 and 2007 respectively. The flight crew included Salvadorans Captain Cesare Edoardo D'Antonio Mena and First Officer Juan Rodolfo Artero Arevalo. All cabin crew members operating on the flight were Hondurans. Captain D'Antonio had 11,899 flight hours, including 8,514 hours on the Airbus A320, and first officer Artero had 1,607 hours with 250 of them on the Airbus A320. Both pilots had previously experience in landing at Toncontín International Airport; captain D'Antonio had landed at the airport 52 times, and first officer Artero had landed there 5 times.
Accident
Flight 390 departed from San Salvador at 9:05 local time. At 09:40, the flight landed on runway 02 at Toncontín International Airport. Although both thrust reversers were deployed and the spoilers were activated, the aircraft overshot the runway at a speed of, crossed an embankment, and crashed into a road beside the airport.
A list of passengers was provided in the fifth press release on the crash from TACA Airlines. This list was in the Spanish and English sections. Five people died as a result of the accident, including Captain D'Antonio. The deceased passengers were later confirmed as Jeanne Chantal Neele, wife of Brian Michael Fraser Neele, and Nicaraguan businessman Harry Brautigam, president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; Brautigam died from a heart attack. Ambassador Fraser Neele sustained injuries in the crash. The former head of the Honduran armed forces, General Daniel López Carballo, was also injured. There were two fatalities on the ground, one a taxi driver, in one of three vehicles crushed on the street by the aircraft. Mario Castillo, a survivor, said that the business class passengers sustained the most serious injuries.
Investigation
Honduran authorities delegated the investigation of the accident to the Civil Aviation Authority of El Salvador as per the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The accident report stated that the airplane had landed with a 12-knot tailwind, 400 meters from the displaced approach end of the runway. Since this was the first intermediate stop on a long transcontinental flight, the aircraft was near its upper landing-weight limit. In addition, the runway was wet, due to the passage of Tropical Storm Alma.
