Bagé – Porto Alegre

On April 7, 1957 at 12:00 AM, Bagé – Porto Alegre experienced a crash involving Curtiss C-46 Commando, operated by VARIG - Viação Aérea Rio Grandense, with the event recorded near Bagé Rio Grande do Sul.

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.

40 people were known to be on board, 40 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 35, passenger fatalities: 35, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Just after take-off, the pilot noticed an incipient fire in the left engine. Acting in accordance with airline regulations, he feathered the damaged engine, returning to the traffic pattern for a landing circuit and carrying out routine radio communications. On final approach, when he considered that a safe landing could be made, he operated the undercarriage lowering mechanism. Because of the intensity of th'e fire, which was in the undercarriage housing and not, as the pilot thought, in the engine, some parts must already have melted and the undercarriage did not respond to the mechanism. Apparently the critical situation had already passed, since the fire, although intense, was not producing much smoke. The pilot, therefore, decided to give full throttle, in order to avoid a belly landing. In this he was still following airline regulations. After this action, when the aircraft reached the intersection of runways 05 and 23, flames enveloped the left wing and detached it from the fuselage. The aircraft hit the ground and was destroyed. All occupants, 5 crew members and 35 passengers, were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration PP-VCF, MSN 30283, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -31.3314°, -54.1063°.