Flight 901 had departed from Teniente Benjamín Matienzo International Airport in Tucumán at 9:11 a.m. on 7 May 1981, bound for Buenos Aires Aeroparque Jorge Newbery .

At the suggestion of the air traffic controller, they headed south to wait over the city of Quilmes, believing that the weather would be calmer there and that the storm would cease quickly.

[2] However, when they got closer they noticed that there were cumulonimbus clouds, so the pilot informed the control tower of Aeroparque that they would turn toward the river to return to Buenos Aires, where they would try a different approach.

After receiving authorization from the controller to fly at 600 metres (2,000 ft) high, the plane turned northward, straight into the center of the storm.

[3][4] After losing contact with Flight 901, ships from the Prefectura Naval Argentina and the Argentine Navy began to search for the plane.