Chachoan Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Chachoan) (IATA: ATF, ICAO: SEAM) is a high elevation airport serving Ambato (also known as San Juan de Ambato), capital of the Tungurahua Province in Ecuador. The airport is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) northeast of Ambato, in a broad basin of the central Andes mountains cut through by the Ambato River.

Chachoan Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic / Military
ServesAmbato, Ecuador
Elevation AMSL8,502 ft / 2,591 m
Coordinates01°12′45″S 78°34′28″W / 1.21250°S 78.57444°W / -1.21250; -78.57444
Map
ATF is located in Ecuador
ATF
ATF
Location of the airport in Ecuador
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 1,920 6,299 Asphalt
Source: WAD[1] GCM[2] Google Maps[3]

The Ambato VOR-DME (Ident: AMV) is located on a ridge 4.7 nautical miles (8.7 km) south-southeast of the airport. The Ambato non-directional beacon (Ident: AMB) is located on the field. There is rising and mountainous terrain in all quadrants.[4][5]

Accident edit

On October 28, 1997, An Aerogal Fairchild FH-227D, with registration HC-BUF, was operating a repositioning ferry flight with staff and equipment from Quito's Mariscal Sucre International Airport to Chachoan. Due to the pilots' and the airline's poor-to-none flight preparation to fly into this high-elevation airfield, the plane touched down halfway down the runway at high speed (at 100 knots). It overran the runway by 170 meters and fell into a 90-meter-deep ravine. There were no casualties among the seven occupants but the plane was written off.[6]

This particular airframe (cn.573 formerly N2784R) had been briefly used in 1992 for photoshoot purposes for the 1993 Alive, painted in the livery of the ill-fated Uruguayan Air Force 571.[7][8]

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