Paris – Lisbon – Santa Maria – New York

On October 28, 1949 at 02:52 AM, Paris – Lisbon – Santa Maria – New York experienced a crash involving Lockheed L-749 Constellation, operated by Air France, with the event recorded near Santa Maria Azores Islands.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a mountains crash site.

48 people were known to be on board, 48 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 11, crew fatalities: 11, passengers on board: 37, passenger fatalities: 37, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. About 150 nm from his destination, the crew informed ground about the ETA in Santa Maria-Vila do Porto Airport at 0245LT. Few minutes later, the captain changed this ETA to 0255LT. During the final approach completed by night but in good weather conditions, while at an altitude of 3,000 feet, the captain confirmed to ATC that he had the runway in sight and was approaching in VFR mode. Shortly later, the aircraft hit the slope of Mt Redondo (about 900 meters high) located few km from the airport. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 48 occupants were killed. Among them were the French boxer Marcel Cerdan, the French violinist Ginette Neveu and her brother Jean Neveu, pianist, and Kay Kamen, artistic director by Walt Disney Studios. Crew: Jean de la Noue, pilot, Charles Wolfer, copilot, Camille Fidency, copilot, André Villet, mechanic, Marcel Sarrazin, mechanic, Roger Pierre, radio operator, Paul Giraud, radio operator, Jean Salvatori, navigator, Raymond Redon, steward, Albert Brucker, steward, Suzanne Ruig, stewardess.

Aircraft reference details include registration F-BAZN, MSN 2546, year of manufacture 1947.