Twenty-nine years ago today, November 26, 1993, Viasa DC-10-30 YV-135C was written off after being severely damaged due to a runway overrun at Buenos Aires-Ezeiza (EZE). The aircraft was performing flight VA940 non-stop from Caracas-Maiquetía (CCS). Poor weather with rain showers prevailed at EZE at the time of the mishap.
This was Viasa’s only hull loss. There were two other hull losses involving Viasa aircraft, but none were being operated by Viasa.
For many years, YV-135C was the registration of choice by scale model manufacturers to use on Viasa DC-10 models.
Schabak used the registration on all the Viasa DC-10s they produced since 1988 up until 2001, including a version wearing the airline’s last Iberia-style livery, which is incorrect as the aircraft had already crashed when that livery was introduced, and YV-134C was the only DC-10 to wear that livery.
Then, in 2005, the first Viasa DC-10 to appear in 1:400 scale – produced by GeminiJets, but marketed as Aeroclassics/Latinclassics – also wore the registration YV-135C. This remains the only Viasa DC-10 produced in 1:400 scale wearing the airline’s three-shades of blue livery. It is a very fine model with very detailed artwork for the time and the solid printing quality associated with scale models in those years.
Aeroclassics is responsible for breaking with what seemingly was a tradition to use YV-135C as the registration of choice for Viasa DC-10 scale models when YV-134C and -137C were released in 2009 in 1:400 and 1:500 scales.
Up until March 2012, the remains of YV-135C could be seen through Google Earth laying on a grassy area in the proximity of Los Chivatos maintenance complex at EZE.
Sources:
Roll Out: Un DC-10 Abandonado (Spanish)
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