1962 Paraná da Eva Panair do Brasil Lockheed Constellation crash
 Lockheed Constellation painted in the colors of Panair do Brasil on display at the Museu Asas de um Sonho in São Carlos, São Paulo. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 14 December 1962 |
| Summary | Unknown causes[1] |
| Site | near Rio Preto da Eva, Amazonas, Brazil |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lockheed Constellation |
| Operator | Panair do Brasil |
| Registration | PP-PDE |
| Flight origin | Aeroporto Santos Dumont, Rio de Janeiro |
| 1st stopover | Santa Maria Airport, Aracaju |
| 2nd stopover | Campo dos Palmares Airport, Maceió |
| 3rd stopover | Guararapes Airport, Recife |
| 4th stopover | Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport, João Pessoa |
| 5th stopover | Augusto Severo Airport, Natal |
| 6th stopover | Fortaleza Airport, Fortaleza |
| Last stopover | Tirirical Airport, São Luís – Belém/Val-de-Cans International Airport, Belém |
| Destination | Ponta Pelada Airport, Manaus |
| Occupants | 50 |
| Passengers | 44 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 50 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The 1962 Paraná da Eva Panair do Brasil Lockheed Constellation crash was an aviation accident of unknown causes that occurred near Manaus on 14 December 1962.[2][3]
Aircraft
[edit]The aircraft involved was a Lockheed L-049 Constellation registered as PP-PDE with serial number 2047.[4]
Accident
[edit]After taking off from Santos Dumont Airport on the morning of December 13, 1962, Panair do Brasil's Constellation PP-PDE made stops in several cities before taking off from Belém for Manaus, the final destination of the trip. During the final approach, in the early hours of December 14, the crew requested that the tower at Ponta Pelada Airport turn on the runway lights. After brief contact with the tower, the aircraft disappeared. Upon realizing the disappearance, the Aeroterrestrial Rescue Squadron (PARA-SAR) of the FAB was activated, and search efforts in the Manaus region began. The wreckage of Constellation PP-PDE was located by a PARA-SAR plane at 10:00 a.m. on December 15, near Rio Preto da Eva, about 30 km from Manaus. Due to the difficult access to the site and part of the aircraft's fuselage being found intact, there was hope of finding survivors. A ground team composed of doctors, engineers, Panair employees, Petrobras workers, and soldiers was dispatched to the jungle, reaching the crash site only on the 20th. No survivors were found among the 44 passengers and 6 crew members of Constellation PP-PDE.[5]
Consequences
[edit]Although various hypotheses were proposed to explain the crash (such as mechanical failure, controlled flight into terrain, etc.), the cause of the accident involving Constellation PP-PDE was never determined.[2] This was the last accident involving a Panair do Brasil aircraft. A few years later, the company was shut down by the military regime, and its routes were transferred to Varig, while its aircraft were redistributed to other airlines or scrapped.[6]
Bibliography
[edit]- SILVA, Carlos Ari Cesar Germano da; O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes; Porto Alegre Editora EDIPUCRS, 2008, pp 223-228.
- ^ Constellation L-049 PP-PDE
- ^ a b SILVA, Carlos Ari Cesar Germano da (2008). O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes. Porto Alegre: Editora EDIPUCRS. p. 223-228. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
- ^ Folha de S. Paulo (15 December 1962). "Constellation with 53 people disappears between Belém and Manaus". Ano XLII, número 12235, páginas 1 e 5. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ "Accident Lockheed L-049 Constellation PP-PDE | Friday 14 December 1962". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
- ^ Jornal do Brasil (21 December 1962). "Confirmed by Petrobras: No one survived the Constellation crash". Ano LXXII, número 294, página 10. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ Jornal do Brasil (11 February 1965). "Panair ceases operations". Ano LXXIV, número 35, páginas 1 e 3. Retrieved 14 August 2012.