 After the end of Paraense, itsFairchild Hiller FH-227 aircraft were transferred toVarig, including PP-BUH. After many years with the Brazilian company, this aircraft was sold to the Argentine company CATA and eventually crashed in 2003. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | March 14, 1970 (1970-03-14) |
| Summary | Low visibility, pilot error |
| Site | |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Fairchild Hiller FH-227 |
| Operator | Paraense Transportes Aéreos |
| Registration | PP-BUFHirondelle |
| Flight origin | Recife/Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre International Airport,Recife, Pernambuco |
| Stopover | Fortaleza,Parnaíba,São Luiz |
| Destination | Belém/Val-de-Cans International Airport, Belém, Pará |
| Occupants | 39 |
| Passengers | 35 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 37 |
| Injuries | 2 |
| Survivors | 2 |
The crash ofParaense Transportes Aéreos Flight 903 was an aviation disaster that occurred on March 14, 1970, near Belém,Pará.[1]
TheFairchild Hiller FH-227 was a version of theFokker F27 (developed in the Netherlands as a successor to theDouglas DC-3) manufactured by Fairchild in the United States under license fromFokker. Due to its qualities, the F27 became one of the best-selling turboprops in the world. The Fairchild Hiller version had a wider fuselage, modern avionics for the time, and a capacity of up to 56 people (4 crew members and 52 passengers). The crashed aircraft was part of a batch of 5 aircraft ordered byParaense Transportes Aéreos. Manufactured in 1967 by Fairchild, the aircraft received construction number 556[2] and was delivered in the same year to Paraense, where it received the registration PP-BUF. The FH-227 aircraft were namedHirondelle (swallow in French) by the company fromPará.
Flight 903 took off on the night of March 13 fromRecife/Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre International Airport, making stops inFortaleza,Parnaíba, andSão Luiz. Around 5:00 am on March 14, they reached the vicinity of Belém, facing bad weather with heavy rain and low visibility. During the approach maneuver to land on runway 06 ofBelém/Val-de-Cans International Airport, the pilot was unable to see the runway. At 5:30 am, flying below the safety ceiling due to low visibility and loss of depth perception, the aircraft's right wing touched the waters of theGuajará Bay, losing control and diving into the bay shortly afterward, about a few hundred meters from the threshold of runway 06.
The accident killed almost all the occupants, with some bodies recovered only on March 30. Among the dead were comediansLuiz Jacinto Silva [pt] (known for the character Coronel Ludugero), Irandir Costa, and the entire production team who had boarded in São Luiz do Maranhão to disembark in Belém, where they were to perform. Only 3 people survived the crash, with 1 dying later in the hospital.[3]
The precariousness of Paraense Transportes Aéreos (PTA) operations became strongly evident after this accident.[4] During the 1960s, the company received the nickname PTAPobre também avua (Poor also flies) from the society of Pará, due to low fares and the precariousness of its operations (noted after 13 accidents occurred in a span of 12 years).[5] After the accident, the company was left with only oneHirondelle, while three others were grounded due to lack of parts and one aircraft was undergoing maintenance in the United States. Due to the lack of means to fulfill its concession, as well as the precariousness of its operations, the company had its flight license revoked by theMinistry of Aeronautics, ceasing operations shortly thereafter.[4]