TAME Flight 173,[2] a Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced operated by Ecuador's national airline TAME, flying on a domestic route from the now-closed Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito to Mariscal Lamar International Airport in Cuenca, crashed on 11 July 1983 into a hill during final approach just 1 mile (1.6 km; 0.87 nmi) from its final destination, killing all 119 people on board.

[5] As Vistazo magazine evoked, its acquisition was the product of an agreement between the previous government of Jaime Roldós Aguilera with the US to help modernize Ecuador's national aviation.

[6] The plane was piloted by captain Jorge Leonardo Peña Terán, a retired general who had previously served as the Commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force during the Roldós government earlier in the decade.

[8][9] It was later revealed that before the trip several passengers gave up their seats to others, including then-Governor of Azuay province (of which Cuenca is capital), Juan Cordero Íñiguez, who reportedly missed the flight after oversleeping in a Quito hotel.

[8] During the final few minutes of the flight, the pilots were distracted during a conversation (reportedly discussing labor problems in TAME) and didn't know that the plane was flying dangerously low towards a mountain.

[citation needed] Seconds before the plane hit the mountain and 1 mile (1.6 km; 0.87 nmi) from the airport, the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) activated, announcing an imminent terrain collision and sounding an alarm.

[citation needed] Initial fears of a possible sabotage were advanced by the civil aviation authorities[12][13] after a radio station reported witnesses to a mid-air explosion.

The civil authorities of aviation initiated an investigation, with cooperation of Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

As a consequence, the plane went below the minimum safe altitude in a mountainous region with the flight crew ignoring the voice commands of the ground proximity warning system until seconds before impact.

[6] The above-mentioned distraction factor was compounded by labor problems at the company, as the CVR is reported to have recorded the following quote from the conversation between Captain Terán and First Officer Sommerfeld.