Varig Flight 797

Varig Flight 797 was a flight from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On 3 January 1987, the Boeing 707-320C crashed while landing, killing all 12 crew members and 38 of the 39 passengers.[2] After an engine failure, the pilot decided to return but misjudged the approach and stalled the aircraft. It crashed onto a rubber plantation in the midst of the jungle, 18 kilometres (11 mi; 9.7 nmi) from the airport at a speed of 400 kilometres per hour (220 kn; 250 mph). Many passengers who survived the initial crash perished in the fire that followed.

Varig Flight 797
PP-VJK, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date3 January 1987
SummaryCrashed while landing due to engine failure
SiteAkouré, Côte d'Ivoire
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707-320C
OperatorVarig
RegistrationPP-VJK[1]
Flight originPort Bouet Airport, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
DestinationRio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Passengers39
Crew12
Fatalities50
Injuries1
Survivors1 (initially 3, one passenger died hours after, one passenger died four days later).

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 707-379C, registered as PP-VJK, which first flew in 1968. It was powered by four Pratt & Witney JT3D-3B turbofan engines. PP-VJK was Varig's final passenger Boeing 707, and the aircraft's final flight with Varig, having already been sold to the Brazilian Air Force.[2]

The flight crew consisted of captain Júlio César Carneiro Corrêa (38), first officer Nélson Figueiredo, and flight engineer Eugênio Cardoso.[3]

Accident

On 2 January, during the aircraft's penultimate flight to Abidjan, the fire alarm for the outer left (No. 1) engine sounded. Another airline, Air Afrique, which performed maintenance for Varig, inspected the engine and determined that it was a false alarm. In the early morning hours of darkness on 3 January, the aircraft departed Port Bouet Airport in Abidjan. 20 minutes after departure and 200 kilometres (120 mi; 110 nmi) from Abidjan, the fire alarm for the no. 1 engine sounded a second time. Flight engineer Cardoso reported high fuel temperatures in the engine, but the other engines were functioning normally. As a precaution, captain Corrêa shut down the faulty engine and decided to return to Abidjan.[3]

Cardoso then reported a fuel leak on engine no 1, though the crew had difficulty identifying it. A flight attendant reported that a passenger had observed engine no. 1 emitting fire. As the aircraft flew over Abidjan, the tower controller at Port Bouet Airport cleared the flight to land on runway 03, the closest available runway. Even though the weather was suitable for a visual approach, captain Corrêa requested to land on runway 21 instead, as it was equipped with an instrument landing system (ILS). However, this approach required additional maneuvers, including a left turn onto a 270 degree heading. The crew (possibly in an attempted to prevent asymmetric thrust) decided to delay extending the flaps and the landing gear until turning past the VHF omnidirectional range. With the flaps retracted, the aircraft flew faster to prevent a stall.[3]

During the turn, the stick shaker (stall warning) was activated and the ground proximity warning system emitted several "bank angle" warnings. The aircraft rolled 90 degrees to the left, stalled, and crashed on a rubber plantation in the midst of the jungle 18 kilometres (11 mi; 9.7 nmi) from the airport at a speed of 400 kilometres per hour (250 mph).[3][4][5][6][7]

Victims

Nationalities of the persons on board:[7]

Nationality Passengers Crew Total
Brazil 10 12 22
Israel 2 0 2
Côte d'Ivoire 13 0 13
Lebanon 3 0 3
France 2 0 2
West Germany 2 0 2
Senegal 2 0 2
United States 1 0 1
United Kingdom 1 0 1
Peru 1 0 1
Chile 1 0 1
Cameroon 1 0 1
Total 39 12 51

Three people (all passengers) initially survived, though one died several hours later. Four days after the disaster, a British passenger died of his injuries on board a Swiss aircraft while arriving in Paris; he was going to be transferred to a burn unit in a Paris suburb.[8] The sole survivor, identified as an Ivorian university professor, had burns on less than 20 percent of his body.[9] While being interviewed by investigators, the professor said that more people had survived the initial impact but died of burns.[10] He also stated that he managed to drag the British passenger who initially survived, away from the wreckage of the aircraft. The sole survivor died of a heart attack on 4 March 2015 at the age of 72.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Registro Aeronáutico Brasileiro (PP-VJK)". Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil.
  2. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-379C PP-VJK Abidjan-Felix Houphouet Boigny Airport (ABJ)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  3. Gianfranco, Beting. "Blackbox - "RG 797: tragédia em Abidjan"" [Blackbox - "RG 797: tragedy in Abidjan"] (in Portuguese). Jetsite. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  4. "Death of Briton Brings Toll To 50 in Abidjan Plane Crash". The New York Times. Associated Press. 7 January 1987. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  5. "AIRKRANE - Aviação e Espaço - Aviation and Space News: RG 797: tragédia em Abidjan" [AIRKRANE - Aviation and Space News: RG 797: tragedy in Abidjan]. AIRKRANE - Aviação e Espaço - Aviation and Space News (in Portuguese). Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  6. César, Carlos Ari; da Silva, Germano (2008). "Na escuridão da noite africana". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928–1996 [The witch trail: history of Brazilian commercial aviation in the 20th century through its accidents 1928-1996] (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 345–351. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
  7. "Jetliner Crashes in W. Africa; 49 Killed, 2 Survive". Los Angeles Times. 4 January 1987. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  8. Agusti, Judy (6 January 1987). "British survivor of plane crash dies". Associated Press. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  9. Everett, Richard (6 January 1987). "Varig 707 in Ivory Coast Crash Said to Have Had Earlier Troubles". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  10. Everett, Richard (7 January 1987). "Probe cause of Ivory Coast crash; say many have survived impact to die in blaze". Associated Press. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  11. "Deuil: Neuba Yessoh, le seul rescapé du crash d'avion à Alépé en 1987, inhumé" [Mourning: Neuba Yessoh, the only survivor of the plane crash at Alépé in 1987, buried]. fratmat.info (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
External image
image icon Photos of PP-VJK at Airliners.net
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