Crash of a Boeing 737-241 near São José do Xingu: 12 killed

Date & Time: Sep 3, 1989 at 2045 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
PP-VMK
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
São Paulo – Marabá – Belém
MSN:
21006
YOM:
1975
Flight number:
RG254
Country:
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
48
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
12
Captain / Total flying hours:
6928
Captain / Total hours on type:
980.00
Copilot / Total flying hours:
884
Copilot / Total hours on type:
442
Aircraft flight hours:
33373
Circumstances:
Following a wrong flight preparation and erroneous computer setting regarding the route, the crew computerized 027° instead of 270°. After takeoff from Marabá Airport at 1725LT, the crew was cleared to climb to FL290 and maintained heading of 270° for 40 minutes. The flight was then cleared to descend to FL200 by Belém ACC. However, the crew failed to find navigational aids and lost radio contact. Course was changed to 090 degrees as the aircraft further descended down to FL40. The crew then followed a river, heading 165 degrees. Because of the sunset and haze the pilot's had difficulty navigating. Also, they failed to establish radio contact on several frequencies and failed to find navaids in the area. After the crew found the NDB, both engines stopped due to fuel exhaustion. The captain elected to make an emergency landing when the aircraft crashed in the jungle about 60 km from São José do Xingu. Rescue teams arrived on site 44 hours later. 42 occupants were injured while 12 passengers were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. It appeared that the computerized flight plan used a four digit representation of the magnetic bearing with the last digit being a tenth of a degree without any decimal separator. A course of '027.0' was presented as '0270'.
Probable cause:
A. Human Factor
1) Physiological aspect - Did not contribute to the accident.
2) Psychological aspect - The following psychological variables contributed to the accident:
a) Misleading perception - In the reading of the plan and incorrect heading insertion by the commander.
b) Reinforcement - In the reading and incorrect heading insertion by the co-pilot and heading conference placed by the commander.
c) Marginal attention and level of attention - The non-recognition of conditions that would mean being far from the objective: request for "VHF bridge" when other aircraft were talking normally with the Control; "reception" of commercial stations, and non-receipt of destination NDB, etc.
d) Predisposition - Maintaining the urge to go to the established objective (Belém).
e) Predisposition duration - Maintenance of FL040 for a long time.
f) Reinforcement of predisposition - Reception of boundaries when selecting Belem's radio frequencies.
g) Attention Fixing - Permanent search for headings, radio contacts or river contours, as an alternative, to reach the fixed goal.
h) Blocks - Delays in identifying the initial headings error and plotting itself in navigation.
i) Geographical position error.
B. Material Factor - Did not contribute to the accident.
C. Operational Factor
1) Poor supervision - Inadequate graphical representation of the Computer Flight Plan.
2) Poor cockpit coordination - No supervision of cockpit activities. Actions were not supervised, but imitated.
3) Poor support staff - Lack of radio contact by the operator's Flight Coordination with the aircraft in flight, after the significant landing delay in Belém, thus breaking the chain of events of the accident.
4) Pilot aspect characterized by environmental influence - Difficulties of visualization due to sunset and dry fog: Radio aid markings received from great distances, originating from the ionospheric propagation of electromagnetic waves.
5) Pilot aspect characterized by poor planning - Lack of route letters to cross the flight plan information.
6) Pilot aspect characterized by poor judgment - Inadequate evaluation and use of radio-navigation equipment, resulting in the pursuit of markings without causing tuning and identification.
7) Pilot aspect characterized by other operational factors - Operational doctrine firming.
Final Report:

Crash of a Learjet 25D in Belém: 4 killed

Date & Time: Aug 5, 1989 at 1904 LT
Type of aircraft:
Registration:
PT-KYR
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Goiânia – Belém
MSN:
25-266
YOM:
1979
Country:
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
2
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
4
Captain / Total flying hours:
4336
Captain / Total hours on type:
36.00
Copilot / Total flying hours:
2304
Copilot / Total hours on type:
380
Circumstances:
Following an uneventful flight from Goiânia, the crew started the descent to Belém-Val de Cans Airport runway 06 via heading 243° then reported 6 nm from the airport at an altitude of 2,000 feet. Eleven seconds later, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in a wooded area located on the Oncas Island, few km short of runway 06 threshold. The aircraft was totally destroyed upon impact and all four occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
It is believed that the loss of control may have been the result of windshear that existed in the approach path of runway 06.
The following contributing factors were reported:
- The crew did not have sufficient training and experience to manage a windshear situation and thus, was unable to take the appropriate corrective actions,
- Poor crew coordination,
- The captain's experience on this type of aircraft was low,
- Poor supervision,
- Lack of safety culture by the operator.
Final Report:

Crash of an Embraer EMB-110P Bandeirante in Imperatriz: 1 killed

Date & Time: Apr 18, 1984 at 1015 LT
Operator:
Registration:
PT-GKL
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Belém - Imperatriz
MSN:
110-107
YOM:
1976
Country:
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
15
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
1
Circumstances:
On approach to Imperatriz Airport following an uneventful flight from Belém, the Bandeirante collided with a second Votec Taxi Aéreo Bandeirante. Registered PT-GJZ, the second aircraft was also approaching Imperatriz Airport following a flight from São Luíz with 18 people on board. Following the collision, the Bandeirante registered PT-GJZ went out of control and crashed in the Rio Tocantins and sank. All 18 occupants were killed. The crew of the second Bandeirante was able to make an emergency landing in a prairie despite the left engine was torn off following the collision. A passenger was killed while 16 other occupants escaped uninjured.
Probable cause:
In-flight collision on approach for unknown reasons.

Crash of an Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante in Belém: 11 killed

Date & Time: Feb 24, 1981
Operator:
Registration:
PT-GLB
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Tucuruí - Belém
MSN:
110-144
YOM:
1977
Country:
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
12
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
11
Circumstances:
On final approach to Belém-Val de Cans-Júlio Cezar Ribeiro Airport runway 06, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with low clouds, heavy rain falls and strong winds. On short final, the airplane was too low and struck the mast of a ship in dry dock then two barges. While the front part crashed onto a tug, the aft section sank in the harbor. Three passengers were seriously injured while 11 other occupants were killed.

Crash of a Cessna 402 in Ponta de Pedras: 9 killed

Date & Time: Oct 31, 1978
Type of aircraft:
Registration:
PT-JXL
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Belém - Almeirim
Country:
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
8
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
9
Circumstances:
The twin engine airplane departed Belém-Júlio Cesar Ribeiro Airport on a taxi flight to Almeirim, carrying one pilot and eight passengers for the Brazilian company Embratel. Few minutes after takeoff, the pilot informed ATC about engine problems and elected to divert to Abaetetuba Airport for an emergency landing. But shortly later, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a huge explosion near Ponta de Pedras, about 45 km west of Belém. All nine occupants were killed.

Crash of an Avro 748-2A-235 in Pedro Afonso: 4 killed

Date & Time: Jun 17, 1975
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
PP-VDN
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Schedule:
São Paulo – Porto Nacional – Pedro Afonso – Belém
MSN:
1625
YOM:
1967
Flight number:
RG236
Country:
Crew on board:
3
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
12
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
4
Circumstances:
Few minutes after takeoff from Pedro Afonso, the crew encountered technical problems and decided to return. The approach was completed at a too high speed and the airplane landed too far down the runway, approximately 300 meters from the runway end. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the airplane overran, crossed a street and crashed into a house. A woman and her two children were killed in the house as well as the copilot. A second crew member was injured while 13 other occupants were unhurt. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Crash of a Cessna 500 Citation I near Acará: 3 killed

Date & Time: Mar 16, 1975 at 0927 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
PT-JXS
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Belém - Uberlândia
MSN:
500-0162
YOM:
1974
Location:
Country:
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
2
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
3
Circumstances:
The airplane departed Belém-Val de Cans Airport at 0902LT bound for Uberlândia with two passengers and one pilot on board. About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot contacted ATC and reported smoke coming from the instrument panel. Due to limited visibility, he elected to return to Belém Airport when control was lost. The airplane crashed into the Acará River near Acará, about 65 km southeast of Belém. The aircraft was destroyed and all three occupants were killed.
Crew:
Carlos Ribeiro, pilot.
Passengers:
Oscar Thompson Filho, ex Minister of Agriculture,
Mr. Ernst Acklimenhofer.

Crash of a Sud-Aviation SE-210 Caravelle VI-R in Manaus

Date & Time: Dec 23, 1973 at 1830 LT
Operator:
Registration:
PP-PDV
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Belém - Manaus
MSN:
120
YOM:
1962
Country:
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
53
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
Following a wrong approach configuration, the airplane landed 848 meters past the runway 26 threshold. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the airplane overran, lost its undercarriage and came to rest in flames few dozen meters further. All 58 occupants were able to evacuate the cabin and five of them were injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
Probable cause:
Wrong approach configuration on part of the flight crew who continued the descent while the aircraft was too high on the glide and unstable with an excessive approach speed. This caused the airplane to land too far down (848 meters past the threshold) a wet runway contaminated by heavy rain falls. In such conditions, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance and overran at a speed of 80 knots. Because the aircraft was unstable and the approach configuration was wrong, the crew should initiate a go-around maneuver.

Crash of a Sud-Aviation SE-210 Caravelle VI-R in São Luís: 23 killed

Date & Time: Jun 1, 1973 at 0720 LT
Operator:
Registration:
PP-PDX
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Belém - São Luís
MSN:
126
YOM:
1962
Flight number:
SC109
Country:
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
16
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
23
Circumstances:
On final approach to São Luís-Marechal Cunha Machado Airport, while at an altitude of 90 meters, the pilot-in-command abandoned the approach and decided to make a go-around. While climbing, the airplane adopted a high nose-up attitude then stalled, banked to the right and crashed in flames 760 meters to the right of the approach path. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 23 occupants were killed. It was reported that the right engine did not develop any power at impact.

Crash of a Fairchild-Hiller FH-227B off Belém: 38 killed

Date & Time: Mar 14, 1970 at 1730 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
PP-BUF
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Recife - Belém
MSN:
556
YOM:
1967
Flight number:
QR903
Country:
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
35
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
38
Circumstances:
The approach to Belém-Val-de-Cans-Júlio Cezar Ribeiro Airport was initiated in poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity and heavy rain falls. While completing a last turn to join the approach path of runway 06, the pilot-in-command failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when one of the wing struck the water surface. The airplane crashed into the Guajará Bay, about 800 meters short of runway 06 threshold. A crew member and a passenger were rescued while 38 other occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
Probable misjudgement of the distance separating the aircraft and the water surface on part of the flying crew while conducting an approach in marginal weather conditions.