Buenos Aires – Bahía Blanca – Trelew – Comodoro Rivadavia – Puerto Deseado – Rio Gallegos

On May 20, 1955 at 08:20 AM, Buenos Aires – Bahía Blanca – Trelew – Comodoro Rivadavia – Puerto Deseado – Rio Gallegos experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Aerolineas Argentinas, with the event recorded near Río Gallegos Santa Cruz.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 5 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft was attempting a night takeoff on the last leg of a circuit begun two days earlier in Ezeiza, with stops at all aerodromes on the Atlantic seaboard. After a run of about 600 meters, it lifted in a gentle curve to the left but hit the ground again off the runway, skidding to the right. The impact broke the left landing gear strut and the aircraft came to rest after travelling about 96 meters. A fire broke out in the left engine nacelle and could not be put out because of the lack of adequate fire fighting equipment at the aerodrome. No injuries were sustained by the four crew members and one passenger on board at the time of the accident (0820LT).

Aircraft reference details include registration LV-ACQ, MSN 13159, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -51.6166°, -69.2090°.