The 21 year old TAME Boeing 727-200Adv was covering the final leg of an Air France flight, with Ecuadorian crew.
The weather conditions consisted of a 7 kilometer (4 nm) visibility limited by a Broken (Ceiling) layer of Cumulonimbus clouds 2,000 feet above the aerodrome, a 16 °C temperature, and an altimeter pressure decrease (QNH 3031 to QNH 3024).