Qualla: Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301

Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301: Introduction

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AviSaster, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the morning of February 1, 2008, Captain Roberto Lobo Gómez had been flying for Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano for 29 years. Nothing in those three decades had prepared him for what happened next: his Boeing 727, carrying 151 passengers and a crew of five on a charter flight, ran out of fuel over the Bolivian lowlands. There was no airport within reach, no runway beneath him — just swamp, scrub, and the flat green expanse of Beni Department stretching to the horizon. At 10:35 a.m., Lobo Gómez put the aircraft down in a marshy field a few kilometers from Trinidad's Teniente Jorge Henrich Arauz Airport. Every person on board walked away.

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Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301: A Plane with Many Lives

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AviSaster, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Boeing 727-259 Advanced that became Flight 301 had already lived several lives before it reached Bolivia. Manufactured in 1980 with serial number 22475 and powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17R engines, the aircraft was delivered first to Avianca in Colombia on December 4...

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Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301: Flight Context

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AviSaster, CC BY-SA 4.0. The crash site is located at approximately 14.78°S, 64.95°W, a few kilometers from Teniente Jorge Henrich Arauz Airport (SLTR) near Trinidad, Bolivia. From altitude, the area is flat, green lowland typical of Bolivia's Beni Department. The original departure point was El Alto International Airport (SLLP) at 4,061 meters elevation near La Paz. The intended destination was Captain Aníbal Arab Airport (SLCO) in Cobija. The region around Trinidad experiences tropical monsoon weather with heavy rain from December to May and frequent low visibility.

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Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301: Into the Swamp

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AviSaster, CC BY-SA 4.0. What happened next could have been catastrophe. Instead, it became something closer to a miracle. Captain Lobo Gómez, drawing on nearly three decades of experience, guided the powerless 727 toward the flattest terrain he could find near Trinidad Airport. The aircraft touched down...

Image: AviSaster | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Flight 301: Fuel, Regulations, and Consequences

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AviSaster, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bolivia's Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics led the investigation into the incident. The findings were straightforward and damning: fuel exhaustion. The aircraft had carried approximately two hours of fuel for the flight, but regulations required an additional 45 minutes o...

Image: AviSaster | CC BY-SA 4.0