Iberia Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid to Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. On 19 February 1985, a Boeing 727-200 operating the flight crashed into a ravine after one of its wings sliced a television antenna on the summit of Mount Oiz in Biscay during an approach to Bilbao Airport. All 141 passengers and 7 crew on board died. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in both the Basque Country and Iberia history.
Spanish officials concluded that the crash had been caused by pilot error. During the approach to Bilbao, the autopilot's altitude select system failed to engage due to undetermined reasons, enabling the aircraft to descend past its target altitude. The altitude alarm had sounded to inform the crew that they had reached the intended altitude. However, both crew members misinterpreted it and caused the aircraft to fly even lower. The left wing eventually struck a television antenna, shearing it off and causing the aircraft to crash.
As of 2026, Iberia Flight 610 remains the third-deadliest aviation accident in mainland Spain, behind Spanair Flight 5022 in 2008 and Avianca Flight 011 in 1983, and the deadliest crash on mainland Spanish territory without any survivors.
Background Aircraft The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727–256, MSN 1487, registered as EC-DDU. Manufactured in 1979, the aircraft was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A turbofan engines capable of carrying 189 passengers. It was delivered to Iberia later in the same year and was named Alhambra de Granada, referencing the Alhambra in Andalusia. It had flown 13,408 hours at the time of the accident.
Passengers The aircraft was carrying 141 passengers and 7 crew members. While the majority of the passengers were Spaniards, authorities also confirmed that several foreigners were on board the aircraft. Among those confirmed were three Bolivians and three Americans. Two Britons, one Swiss, and one Dutch person were stated to be on board, however these reports could not be confirmed.
Notable passengers include then-incumbent Bolivian Labor Minister Gonzalo Guzman Eguez, who was travelling to Spain to hold talks with authorities on the construction of La Paz - El Alto railway, and former Spanish Foreign Minister under Franco's regime, Gregorio López-Bravo.
Crew members The commander of the flight was identified as 51-year-old Captain José Luis Patiño y Arróspide, 14th Viscount of Perellós. Spanish newspaper El Pais described Patiño as an aristocratic pilot after it was discovered that he was a peer. A senior pilot in the airline, he had been flying with Iberia for 19 years. He had accumulated a total flying experience of 13,600 hours (including 4,882 hours on the Boeing 727), having previously flown with Spantax before joining Iberia. His co-pilot was 38-year-old First Officer Emilio López Peña Ordóñez. He had accumulated a total flying experience of 5,548 hours, of which more than 2,800 were on the type. There was also a flight engineer on board, identified as 38-year-old Gregorio Arroba Martín Delgado. He had 2,721 flight hours, all of which were on the Boeing 727.
History In 1984, following a disastrous financial year, Iberia decided to withhold the salaries of its pilots. Dozens of Iberia pilots went on strike, including Captain Patiño. The strike was regarded by the Spanish government as one of the most serious strikes in Iberia's history, as the company had lost a total of 2.4 billion pesetas as of July 19. After threatening Iberia that they would not fly flights that were crucial to Iberia's financial operation, Iberia issued multiple sanctions and fired many of the striking pilots, including Captain Patiño's contract, which was terminated on July 18. The government was forced to intervene, and Spanish ministers eventually ordered arbitration between Iberia and the Spanish pilots' union (SEPLA), which was agreed upon by both parties. The Spanish judiciary eventually ruled in favor of the pilots and let them return to Iberia. Patiño eventually joined back in November. As Patiño had just been fired from Iberia, he had to be trained again to obtain his flying license.
Flight Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Spanish capital of Madrid to Bilbao, the largest city in Basque Country. Piloted by Captain Patiño and First Officer López, the aircraft was supposed to take off from Madrid–Barajas Airport in the morning. The flight was a short one as the aircraft was expected to arrive approximately 45 minutes later.
On February 19, Flight 610 departed Madrid at 08:47 CET with 141 passengers and 7 crew members. It was scheduled to land at Bilbao Airport at 09:35. First Officer López was the pilot flying, while Captain Patiño was the pilot monitoring. According to the weather report, the area around Bilbao, particularly in the mountains, would be covered with fog. The flight was uneventful until the approach.
Approach At , the crew switched on the altitude alert system whilst flying through overcast and rainy weather. At 09:09, the crew was given permission to descend to . Contact was then handed over to Bilbao, and at 09:16 First Officer López established contact with the tower of Bilbao Airport. Bilbao ATC then gave permission to the crew to continue their descent.
08:16:03 First Officer López Bilbao Tower, good morning, Iberia six one zero. 08:16:06 Bilbao ATC Iberia six one zero, good morning, go ahead. 08:16:09 First Officer López We are leaving level one three for level one hundred, twenty-eight [miles] out. 08:16:13 Bilbao ATC Roger, Iberia six one zero, one moment please. 08:16:33 Bilbao ATC Iberia six one zero, you can continue descent, for an ILS approach to Bilbao, runway three zero, wind is one hundred degrees [at] three knots, QNH one zero two five and transition level seven zero.
The crew repeated the transmitted information, which was immediately followed by the controller's offer for a direct approach to the airport. Choosing the direct approach would have made the aircraft arrive faster, though the aircraft's descent profile would be significantly different from the standard approach. Usually, pilots prefer the direct approach rather than the standard approach to save time. However, on that particular day, Captain Patiño gestured to First Officer Lopez to decline the offer, apparently as a sign of protest to Iberia's management. By choosing the standard approach, the travel time would be longer, and eventually, this would deplete the fuel further. First Officer López then stated that they would fly the standard approach plan to Bilbao rather than the usual "shortcut" approach. Bilbao ATC accepted the transmission and asked the crew to report back when they had reached the VOR of the airport.
The aircraft continued to descend, and the crew began to run through the descent checklist. The aircraft was configured accordingly, and the autopilot's altitude select system was set. The system then sounded its first tonal alarm, indicating that the aircraft was nearing its selected altitude. After the second tonal alarm, the autopilot then levelled the aircraft at the targeted altitude and the aircraft passed the VOR at 09:22. The crew reported on the VOR passage of Bilbao at an altitude of , reaching the starting point of the final approach. The crew received permission to descend to an altitude of .
08:22:04 First Officer López Seven thousand feet over the VOR, Iberia six one zero, initiating the maneuver. 08:22:07 Bilbao ATC Roger, six one zero.
This was the last radio transmission from Flight 610 to Bilbao ATC. Afterwards, the aircraft began to initiate a tight turn to the right heading towards the outbound leg and the pilots lowered the target altitude from 7,000 ft to 5,000 ft into the autopilot.
Crash
Approximately 900 feet from the target altitude of 5,000 ft, the first tonal alarm sounded. The aircraft reached at 09:25 and the second tonal alarm informed the crew that the aircraft had reached the intended altitude. The target altitude was lowered again, this time to 4,300 ft. The crew then commanded the autopilot to increase the rate of descent to 1,500 ft in order to quickly reach the intended altitude. The altitude alert went off and the crew continued the descent as the second tonal alarm had not sounded. The crew began to initiate the loop back towards the airport by making a tight turn to the left. During the turn, they would bypass Mount Oiz.
The rate of descent was eventually decreased to 750 feet per minute. The pilots then fed the autopilot with the intended input and began to configure the flaps. The aircraft continued to descend. The weather conditions at that time were cloudy with fog, with of visibility.
08:26:54 First Officer López Five, please. 08:26:57 First Officer López Minimum, one six three, four thousand three hundred, [in the] curve- 08:27:04 Commentary Sound of impact Unidentified My God! Commentary Unidentified noises Commentary *Sounds of screaming* 08:27:14 Commentary End of recording
At 08:27, after 57 seconds from the moment of descent to a safe altitude, flying above Mount Oiz (elevation ) in a landing configuration, and at a speed of , the aircraft's left wing collided with an antenna of the Euskal Telebistarues (EITB) television tower at . The tower struck right between the airframe and the wing, completely shearing the wing off from the airframe. Losing all possible lift from the left side, the aircraft immediately rolled to the left and dived towards the woods. It hit dozens of pine trees in the process, leaving swathes of cut trees for 930 meters before it crashed into a ravine in inverted condition. The wreckage slid for another 230 meters, ending in a tremendous explosion and instantly killing all 148 passengers and crew on board.
Response The crash site was discovered by a family that had run towards the forest to investigate. After informing emergency services about the accident, personnel began to be deployed to the area, with the Spanish Civil Guard being the first to arrive. Local volunteers helped with the search and rescue operation as well. An emergency meeting chaired by then Basque Government Interior Minister Luis Maria Retolaza was later convened at a local hamlet.
As the crash site was scattered over a radius of 2–3 km and located up in the mountains, the recovery operation was rendered difficult. Helicopters had to be deployed to the crash site. An initial 300 personnel took part in the operation. Bodies of the victims were later taken to Bilbao's Garellano military barracks for identification. Meanwhile, Iberia provided relatives of the victims with flights to Bilbao and accommodation for post-mortem analysis of the corpses. Doctors were also provided for the families for trauma healing. The president of Iberia, Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros, however, asked relatives to return home, as their presence to identify their loved ones was "hardly useful".
During the search and rescue operation, Spanish authorities warned that some corpses may not be able to be identified due to the destructive nature of the crash. Basque newspaper El Correo stated that the only body recovered intact was a body that had been placed inside a coffin, which was located inside the cargo hold during the crash. It was reported that a total of 7 bodies could not be identified due to the severity of the impact and therefore had to be buried at a mass grave in Bilbao's Derio cemetery.
Volunteers later accused officials of being inept after alleging that there was neither an action plan nor coordination among rescue personnel during the operation. News media eventually gained access to the crash site and began photographing the victims. Images of dead bodies were broadcast on multiple Spanish TV stations.