1981 Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crash The 1981 Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crash occurred on July 31 , 1981 , when a de Havilland Canada DHC - 6 Twin Otter of the Panamanian Air Force , with identity code FAP - 205 , crashed at Marta Hill , in the community of Coclesito , in adverse weather conditions while on its final approach to the airport . All seven people on board , including General Omar Torrijos Herrera , who led the country ' s military dictatorship between 1969 and 1981 , were killed . The investigation into the crash was surrounded by controversy and speculation about the circumstances of how the aircraft crashed . The crash occurred shortly after Ronald Reagan assumed office as President of the United States and three months after Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera died in similar circumstances . The cause of the crash remains disputed . The story . At 10 : 44 a . m . on July 31 , 1981 , FAP - 205 took off from the Rio Hato air base , headed for Coclesito airport , to visit the people who were living there . At the controls were captain Azael Adames and sub - lieutenant Victor Rangel as co - pilot . The passengers on the flight were General Omar Torrijos Herrera , mechanic Carlos E . Rivera , Sergeant Ricardo Machazek , bodyguards ' assistant Jaime Correa , and dentist Teresa Ferreiro . The plane landed at Penonomé Airport at 10 : 55 a . m . for a stopover , which ended at 11 : 40 a . m . At that time , the flight was only 15 minutes from its final destination . There is much controversy about how the plane crashed . It is known that the plane attempted to land at Coclesito in very bad weather , and it disappeared from radar between 11 : 55 a . m . and 12 : 05 p . m . , but ATC did not declare an emergency for nearly a day , because of the limited nature of Panama ' s radar coverage at the time . The government knew about the plane ' s disappearance , but remained silent until the rescue mission was organized . But on August 1 , the media began to report the disappearance of the plane and the government was forced to declare the physical disappearance of Torrijos . At 11 : 30 p . m . of the same day , Panamanian authorities , with the support of the US military , found the first remains of the aircraft on Marta Hill , 3 , 100 feet above sea level , but there was little to make because all the seven people on board , including Torrijos , were killed . The plane , but the tail section , was disintegrated by the impact against the mountains The news about Torrijos ' death caused a crisis in the military dictatorship and nationwide mourning in Panama , especially by the impoverished , because Torrijos ' actions and popular reforms gave relatively more opportunities and advantages to them . On August 4 , a state funeral was held for him in the Casco Viejo Metropolitan Cathedral . He was buried in Casco Viejo for a brief time , but later transferred to a mausoleum in the Canal Zone at Fort Amador , near Panama City . Investigations . After recovering the bodies , investigations were begun by Panamanian authorities and the FBI . Initially , investigators had some information about circumstances at the time of the accident : During the investigations , people living in Coclesito claimed that they heard two explosions but had seen nothing , because of the foggy conditions that were surrounding the town that day and informed to the representative Tulio Córdoba about what they heard . This information led to the formation of a rescue squadron of men and women who were living in the town to find the source of the explosion , but found nothing . Speculations and release of report . Some people told investigators that the FAP - 205 accident was an assassination plot . Some say that Noriega was involved in this , because of his desires to kill Torrijos , in order to rule the country and the National Guard of Panama ( which later became the Panamanian Defense Forces ) . Others say that the CIA was to blame , because they had planned the assassination of Torrijos and Jaime Roldós with a plan called Falcon in Flight . Researchers denied those statements , qualifying them as " false " . In 1983 , the inquiry into the accident concluded that the pilots on charge of the flight were to blame for the lack of situational awareness and poor - making decisions , which led to the crash . Also , they concluded that the plane was in perfect conditions at the time of the crash . Criticrism and Controversy . The conclusions that were shown on the final report were not accepted by the general public inquiry and the relatives of the victims , and accused the military government of making a cover - up . Moreover , the witnesses who were living in Coclesito complained that investigators didn ' t take in consideration their accounts about the crash and were not included in the official report . During the last years of the military dictatorship , the public opinion continued to claim that the investigation should be reopened to find the real cause of the crash , because they claimed that the causes were lacking of sustainable evidence . However , the documents about the crash went missing during the U . S . invasion of Panama and were never found . After the fall of the military dictatorship in Panama in 1989 , in pre - trial hearings in Miami in May 1991 , Manuel Noriega ' s attorney , Frank Rubino , was quoted as saying that " General Noriega has in his possession documents showing attempts of assassinations to him [ Noriega ] and Mr . Torrijos by secret agencies of the United States , such as the CIA . " Those documents were not allowed as evidence in the trial , because the presiding judge agreed with the US government ' s claim that their public mention would violate the Classified Information Procedures Act . More recently , former businessman John Perkins alleged in his book " Confessions of an Economic Hit Man " that Torrijos was assassinated by American interests , who had had a bomb planted aboard his aircraft ( by CIA organized operatives ) . The alleged motive is that some American business leaders and politicians strongly opposed the negotiations between Torrijos and a group of Japanese businessmen led by Shigeo Nagano , who were promoting the idea of a new , larger , sea - level canal for Panama . Manuel Noriega , in " America ' s Prisoner " , claims that these negotiations had evoked an extremely unfavorable response in American circles . However , these facts were not enough to start a new investigation for further proofs . As a consequence , the FAP - 205 crash case was declared unsolved due to lack of evidence . Aftermath . After the accident , Panama ' s Tocumen International Airport was renamed Omar Torrijos International Airport until 1989 , when United States invaded the country to depose Noriega and its original name was re - established . The mountainous area where the wreckage of the airplane can be found is now part of Omar Torrijos National Park , which was opened in 1986 and is a major tourist attraction for its natural hiking trails . The rural house where Torrijos talked to the people of Coclesito and held his political meetings is now a memorial museum . The day of Torrijos ' death is commemorated each year by the PRD political party , along with the peasantry and indigenous class of Panama .