Varig Flight 837
Douglas DC-8-33 · Controlled flight into terrain caused by pilot error
From Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY) to Rio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 56 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 5
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 39
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Douglas DC-8-33
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-8
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PP-PEA
- Operator
- Varig
- Onboard fatalities
- 51
- Route
- From Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY)To Rio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Varig Flight 837 was a flight from Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy to Galeão International Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, originating in Beirut, Lebanon, and with a stop in Monrovia, Liberia. On 5 March 1967, due to pilot error, the flight crashed during approach to Runway 04 of Roberts International Airport. Of the 71 passengers and 19 crew on board, 50 passengers and the flight engineer perished. In addition, 5 people on the ground were also killed. The aircraft caught fire and was written off. This is the worst aviation accident in Liberia to this day.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Investigators determined the probable cause of the crash to be "The failure of the pilot-in-command to arrest in time the fast descent at a low altitude upon which he had erroneously decided, instead of executing a missed approach when he found himself too high over the locator beacon."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Varig Flight 837” (revision 1372608559, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Varig Flight 837
- Article
- Varig Flight 837
- Revision
- 1372608559 · 2026-09-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7915893
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Varig Flight 837" (page 25801670, revision 1372608559)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.