On Christmas Eve 1971 the Peruvian airliner, had taken off from the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima on a flight to Pucallpa
, a city in the Amazonian jungle. The plane was carrying a crew of nine and a cargo of mail and passengers.

The plane was flying at an altitude of about 10,000 feet when it suddenly lost all power. The pilot tried to return to the airport but the plane was too low and the pilot