Lisbon – Praia – Recife – Rio de Janeiro

On November 1, 1961 at 02:15 AM, Lisbon – Praia – Recife – Rio de Janeiro experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-7, operated by Panair do Brasil, with the event recorded near Recife-Guararapes Pernambuco.

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.

88 people were known to be on board, 45 fatalities were recorded, 43 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 51.1%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 79, passenger fatalities: 38, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft, coming from Lisbon, Portugal with a stop at Ilha do Sal, contacted Recife Control Tower at 0505Z. While flying at night in good visibility the flight received instructions for landing and was to call again on the "wind leg". Reporting as requested, authorization for landing was given, and the aircraft was asked to notify when on "final". Thirty seconds thereafter it collided with high (84 m) ground to the right of the centreline of the runway in use, 2 720 m from the runway threshold. The aircraft was destroyed by fire. Thirty-eight passengers and 7 crew members were killed while 43 other occupants were injured.

Aircraft reference details include registration PP-PDO, MSN 44872, year of manufacture 1957.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -8.2085°, -34.9293°.