A LATAM Airlines Airbus A320 serving flight 1325 between Santiago de Chile Airport (SCL) and Asunción International Airport (ASU) suffered from severe weather, forcing the crew to divert to Foz do Iguaçu/Cataratas International Airport (IGU) in Brazil and then damaging the nose, engines, and windshield.

What happened to LATAM’s flight?

The incident took place on October 26. LATAM Paraguay’s flight 1325, with 48 passengers onboard, left Santiago de Chile at around 17:25 en route to Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay. Nonetheless, due to a storm at Asunción, the crew had to divert the commercial service to Foz de Iguaçu. After staying in Foz de Iguaçu for about three hours, the flight departed again towards Paraguay. During these three hours, the passengers were unable to get off the plane. The crew informed the passengers that the Brazilian authorities were not letting them disembark until a customs team arrived at the plane.

Nonetheless, when approaching Asunción, LATAM’s flight 1325 encountered severe weather, which forced the crew to do an emergency landing. Once on the ground, the damage the aircraft suffered due to the weather could be seen. As reported on social media, the plane, an Airbus A320 registration CC-BAZ, suffered damage on its radome (located on the nose of the aircraft), an engine, and the windshield. Reports on social media state that the plane lost both engines while approaching Asunción, which led to the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT). Simple Flying reached LATAM for clarification on these reports; the airline rejected to comment anything else beyond the statement we share below.

LATAM Airlines released a statement,

“LATAM Airlines Paraguay informs that, on Wednesday, October 26, flight LA1325 (Santiago de Chile-Asunción) went through severe meteorological conditions during the flight. The aircraft did an emergency landing in Asunción, a procedure that was executed without trouble at 23:09 (local time). Both passengers and the crew are in good condition. LATAM Airlines Paraguay regrets the inconvenience this meteorological event may have caused its passengers.”

Due to the incident, Paraguay’s national civil aviation authority (DINAC) will launch an investigation, and Chile’s counterpart will participate in it, as revealed by Chile’s civil aviation authority on Thursday. Here below is an embedded video of the turbulence the flight encountered last night.

The aircraft

The plane involved in this incident was a LATAM Airlines Airbus A320-200. Its registration number is CC-BAZ, which is based in Chile, although it operated a flight for LATAM Paraguay. The aircraft has the capacity to carry 180 passengers in a one-class environment.

LATAM first received the plane in July 2012, which is set to be retired in 2024, according to data by ch-aviation. During its stint at LATAM, the aircraft has totaled over 27,500 flight hours and 19,960 flight cycles. CC-BAZ was scheduled to operate a flight from Asunción to Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) on Wednesday. Following the incident, this service was canceled, and the plane has remained in Asunción ever since.

LATAM Airlines has a fleet composed of 288 aircraft as of October 2022, according to data by ch-aviation. The airline has 41 Airbus A319s, 128 Airbus A320-200s, 14 A320neos, 49 Airbus A321ceos for short- and medium-haul flights. For long-haul services, LATAM has 18 Boeing 767-300(ER), ten Boeing 777-300(ER), ten Boeing 787 Dreamliner 8, and 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliner 9.

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