London – Paris – Lisbon – Dakar – Recife – Rio de Janeiro – São Paulo – Asunción – Buenos Aires

On June 16, 1955 at 01:15 AM, London – Paris – Lisbon – Dakar – Recife – Rio de Janeiro – São Paulo – Asunción – Buenos Aires experienced a crash involving Lockheed L-049 Constellation, operated by Panair do Brasil, with the event recorded near Asunción Distrito Capital.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

24 people were known to be on board, 16 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 66.7%.

Crew on board: 10, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 14, passenger fatalities: 9, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from London to Buenos Aires with stops at Paris, Lisbon, Dakar, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Asunción, carrying 14 passengers and 10 crew. At 0105LT the Constellation called the Asunción control tower who cleared the flight to land on Runway 02 and requested the aircraft to call when on final approach. The last contact with the flight was made at 0115LT. From that time on a control tower employee reported the aircraft moved towards the south-southwest. He tried to sight it and noted that it headed towards the city, made a turn to the left and appeared to initiate its final straight-in approach. When sufficient time for a landing had elapsed the employee called attention to the lack of communication between the aircraft and the control tower. He continued to look out to the south where the aircraft would have appeared and saw a sudden burst of flame near the Paraguay Aero Club, south of the airport. Five passengers and three crew members survived. The aircraft was completely destroyed by fire which broke out immediately after impact.

Aircraft reference details include registration PP-PDJ, MSN 2032, year of manufacture 1946.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -25.2779°, -57.5755°.