This Incredible Pilot: Carlos Dárdano

Born in 1958, in El Salvador, Dárdano was no stranger to the sky. “I’ve been in airplanes since I was born,” Dárdano said in an interview. His maternal grandfather and father were both pilots, and Dárdano recounts flying on his father’s lap: “I was in love with aviation since I was a child and always knew what I wanted to become.”

At 16, Dárdano was a licensed pilot in El Salvador, and by the time he graduated high school, he’d already logged 350 hours. Knowing his son wanted a career as a pilot, his father sent him to Florida for his commercial rating. Due to Dárdano’s unusually high experience level, training didn’t take long. “I got my commercial in 10 hours, my instrument took me 40 hours, and my twin engine took me 6-7 hours,” he said. 

Dárdano would relocate back to El Salvador to build more time flight instructing. Later, he would find himself working at an air taxi. In 1982, El Salvador was in the throes of a civil war, and Dárdano himself would get caught in the crossfire. After bringing a couple and their young son to a remote work site, guerillas shot at his Piper Arrow. He was able to fly his plane and passengers to safety, but the gunfire struck Dárdano in the face. Doctors were able to save his life, but not his left eye. 

The injury might have grounded other pilots, but not Dárdano. After proving his flying ability with a single eye, he would go on to be hired by TACA Airlines. By 29, he was a captain with TACA and had logged over 13,400 hours of flight time. 

On May 24, Dárdano, along with first officer Dionisio Lopez, was operating TACA Flight 110 from Belize City to New Orleans. On the initial descent, weather radar painted areas of moderate to heavy precipitation ahead. The crew chose to “thread the needle” between the worst two cells. But its weather radar was off. The plane entered an area of extreme precipitation, and despite taking precautions, both engines on their Boeing 737 flamed out. 

Even a single-engine failure is enough to raise any airline pilot’s blood pressure. A double flameout is unthinkable. The crew was able to start the auxiliary power unit and attempted to restart the engines. While initially successful in restarting both engines, any increase in thrust led to overheating, and it was forced to shut down both engines again or risk a fire.  

The aircraft lacked the altitude to glide to an airport, but by sheer talent or luck, or perhaps a combination of the two, Dárdano landed the crippled 737 on a Louisiana levee. All 45 passengers on board survived, and the only injury came as the result of an occupant with a recent appendectomy tearing their stitches. 

The 737 would be flown off the levee by Boeing test pilots. Investigations concluded that the water ingestion combined with the reduced power settings led to the double flameout. The engine manufacturer would go on to add a sensor that would force the combustor to continuously ignite under heavy rain conditions. 

After 49 years of flying, Dárdano retired professionally. The TACA Flight 110 incident was featured on the National Geographic Channel’s Air Crash Investigation in the episode “Nowhere to Land.”