Hamburg – Frankfurt – Paris – Lisbon – Dakar – Recife – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires

On January 11, 1959 at 11:17 AM, Hamburg – Frankfurt – Paris – Lisbon – Dakar – Recife – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires experienced a crash involving Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, operated by Lufthansa, with the event recorded near Rio de Janeiro-Galeão Rio de Janeiro.

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.

39 people were known to be on board, 36 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 92.3%.

Crew on board: 10, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 29, passenger fatalities: 29, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The Super Constellation operated on flight LH502 from Hamburg, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The crew were cleared to descend from 4,200 m to 3,000 m when 20 min out from Rio de Janeiro. They were to maintain 3,000 m to the KX NDB in preparation for an approach and landing at runway 14. Over KX they were cleared to descend to 900 m. Galeão Approach was contacted and normal position reports were made. The plane descended over Guanabara Bay under rainy conditions and struck the water with the nose wheel. The crew then presumably tried to continue the approach, but the Constellation crashed near Flecheiras Beach, short of the Galeão runway. The airplane was destroyed by fire and seven crew members and all 29 passengers were killed. Only three crew members survived. Crew duty and flight time exceeded the Brazilian limits but did not exceed the German limitations.

Aircraft reference details include registration D-ALAK, MSN 4602, year of manufacture 1955.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -22.8112°, -43.2586°.