[1][2][3] It failed to get airborne during the takeoff run at Quito Airport, hit an Instrument Landing System (ILS) antenna at the end of the runway and then struck several houses.

[3] A contributing factor to the accident was the airport's location in the middle of a densely populated area, with public concerns over its risks becoming acute after the AECA tragedy.

A near-miss incident, which served as a premonition of another tragedy, came twelve years later on 1 May 1996, when an overloaded Fly Linhas Aéreas Boeing 727, which carried the Corinthians football team, overran runway 35 (start of runway 17) after a failed take-off in rainy conditions, hitting the ILS installation, going down a slope or embankment, hitting the perimeter wall and coming to rest in the Tufiño avenue.

[4][5] However, renewed criticism and concerns over the Mariscal Sucre Airport's location would reemerge two years later after the crash of Cubana de Aviación Flight 389, on 29 August 1998, which also occurred after a failed take-off, killing 91 people.

In the end, a new airport was finally opened in 2013, about 18 kilometres (11 mi; 9.7 nmi) east of Quito, outside its urban area.