Date & Time:
Nov 1, 1961 at 0215 LT
Type of aircraft:
Douglas DC-7
Operator:
Registration:
PP-PDO
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Lisbon – Praia – Recife – Rio de Janeiro
MSN:
44872
YOM:
1957
Country:
Brazil
Region:
South America
Crew on board:
9
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
79
Pax fatalities:
38
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
45
Captain / Total hours on type:
1004
Copilot / Total hours on type:
193
Circumstances:
The aircraft, coming from Lisbon, Portugal with a stop at Ilha do Sal, contacted Recife Control Tower at 0505Z. While flying at night in good visibility the flight received instructions for landing and was to call again on the "wind leg". Reporting as requested, authorization for landing was given, and the aircraft was asked to notify when on "final". Thirty seconds thereafter it collided with high (84 m) ground to the right of the centreline of the runway in use, 2 720 m from the runway threshold. The aircraft was destroyed by fire. Thirty-eight passengers and 7 crew members were killed while 43 other occupants were injured.
Probable cause:
The accident was caused by pilot errors, i.e. improper evaluation of distance, flying a non-standard traffic pattern by night and failing to observe altitude minima during the final approach. A contributing cause was the improper night marking of obstructions along the approach path towards runway 15.
Final Report:
PP-PDO.pdf1.58 MB
