181 die in air crash near Madrid airport

1983 - A Colombian jumbo jet crashed, flipped over and burned on approach to Madrid airport. Authorities said 181 of the 192 people aboard died. The unofficial count reported 11 survivors, including a French couple, their three-year-old daughter and 20-month-old son, who underwent a four-hour operation for a fractured skull, and two people who walked away from the crash. It was a mystery why the Avianca Boeing 747 went down on treeless hills on a clear night.