Aerovias Brasil aircraft accident near Ilhéus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aerovias Brasil aircraft accident near Ilhéus
PP-AVJ Douglas DC-3 Aerovias Brasil (7378795574) .jpg

A structurally identical machine from Aerovias Brasil
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control and structural failure due to strong turbulence
place near Ilhéus , Bahia , BrazilBrazil 1889Brazil 
date May 30, 1950
Fatalities 13
Survivors 2
Aircraft
Aircraft type United States 48United States Douglas DC-3 / C-47-DL
operator Brazil 1889Brazil Aerovias Brasil
Mark Brazil 1889Brazil PP-AVZ
Departure airport Vitória da Conquista Airport , Bahia , BrazilBrazil 1889Brazil 
Destination airport Salvador de Bahia Airport , Bahia , BrazilBrazil 1889Brazil 
Passengers 11
crew 4th
Lists of aviation accidents

The air accident of Aerovias Brasil at Ilheus occurred on May 30, 1950. On that day, it came at a domestic airliner a Douglas DC-3 / C-47-DL of Aerovias Brasil from Vitória da Conquista to Salvador to a loss of control and Structural failure of the machine. 13 people were killed in the accident, only two passengers survived.

machine

The aircraft was a Douglas DC-3, which was built during the Second World War as the Douglas C-47-DL military aircraft type at the Douglas Aircraft Company's plant in Long Beach , California and in 1943 with serial number 9156 and military aircraft registration number 42-32930 was extradited to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). After the war, the C-47 was categorized as a USAAF surplus and demolished. The machine was sold to Brazil and converted into a civilian DC-3. The aircraft then went into operation with the aircraft registration PP-AVZ at Aerovias Brasil. The DC-3 was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp double radial engines , each with an output of 1,200 hp.

Passengers and crew

Eleven passengers had taken the domestic scheduled flight from Vitória da Conquista to Salvador de Bahia. There was a crew of four on board, consisting of the flight captain Douglas W. Martin, the first officer Fernando M. Brulli, the radio operator Celecino Leite Martins and the flight attendant Clicia R. Zorowich.

Flight plan

The plane took off from Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport . The flight plan provided for a flight to Belém in the state of Pará . In addition to Vitória da Conquista and Salvador de Bahia, the flight was supposed to pass other major cities in northeastern Brazil.

the accident

Visual flight conditions prevailed along the flight segment from Vitória to Salvador until the aircraft entered a cloud cover at an altitude of 10,000 feet. A descent was initiated and the DC-3 flew through thick cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds with strong winds . This wind shear caused passengers and cargo to be thrown around in the machine. As a result, the machine's center of gravity shifted and the pilots lost control. The machine crashed at a speed that exceeded the structural load limits of the DC-3. The wings eventually broke off in the air. The machine eventually hit the ground, killing 13 of the 15 occupants.

Victims and survivors

In the accident, 13 of the 15 occupants died, including the four-man crew and nine passengers. Only the 38-year-old entrepreneur Carlos Ortiz from Rio de Janeiro and his 23-year-old employee Leonídia Eunice da Conceicao survived seriously injured.

root cause

The cause of the accident was determined on the one hand to be the unexpected occurrence of difficult weather conditions along the route and on the other hand to be the careless behavior of the pilots who initiated a descent without making sure that they had already flown around the bad weather zone with turbulence.

swell