Transbrasil Flight 303
Boeing 727-27C · Pilot error followed by controlled flight into terrain
From Val de Cans/Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL) to Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA)
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
- 55 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 58
- Survivors
- 3
- 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
- 3
- 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
Boeing 727-27C
- Flight
- TR303
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- PT-TYS
- Operator
- Transbrasil
- Onboard fatalities
- 55
- Route
- From Val de Cans/Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL)To Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Miscellaneous
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
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
Transbrasil Flight 303 was a scheduled flight from Congonhas-São Paulo Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, to Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil, on 12 April 1980. The Boeing 727-27C crashed on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport. Only 3 of the 58 people on board survived.
Accident
Beginning on the morning of 12 April, the flight was scheduled to fly from Belém to Porto Alegre, with stops in Fortaleza, Brasília, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba and Florianópolis. After taking off from Belém and performing most of its stopovers, Flight 303 took off from Congonhas Airport in the early evening bound for Florianopolis, the last stopover before the final destination of the flight, Porto Alegre.
The aircraft was on a night instrument approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in a severe thunderstorm. After reaching Florianópolis' non-directional beacon (NDB), located near the Hercílio Luz bridge, the Boeing 727 descended from 3,000 to 2,000 ft and began its landing approach. Around 20:38, the aircraft went off course, struck the north side of the hill Morro da Virgínia, and exploded. The accident site was in the neighborhood of Ratones, about 24 km north of Florianópolis Airport. The heavy impact of the aircraft with the existing trees in the area caused the fuselage to be completely destroyed, throwing some of the passengers out, including a few survivors.
The accident site was difficult to reach. The rescue teams only reached the site at around 10 pm, an hour and a half after the accident. As one team rescued four survivors, another opened a clearing in the woods to allow a helicopter to land. During the night, the four survivors were removed by helicopter to hospitals in Florianópolis while the bodies of the passengers and dead crew were gathered to be transported to the Instituto Médico Legal. On the morning of 13 April, authorities had to block hundreds of people attempting to invade the accident site. Some time later, one of the survivors died, reducing the number of survivors to three.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) were found and recovered on 14 April. The analysis of the recorders did not indicate an abnormality in the aircraft.
Probable causes were misjudgment of speed and distance, inadequate flight supervision, failure to initiate a go-around, and improper operation of the engines.
The aircraft was piloted by an inspector from the Civil Aviation Department, who was training for the Boeing 727's supervisory role. The training was overseen by the commander of the aircraft. The bad weather caused delay in the flight and the incidence of lightning hampered the operation of the NDB of Florianópolis, generating a false block of position, which impaired the judgment of the crew. The crew's overconfidence of their geographic position prevented the approach being done from being aborted. When approaching the landing in an incorrect location (caused by the false NDB readings), the aircraft flew below the safety limit of that region, about 60 m high, and collided with Morro da Virgínia, hitting the trees until it reached the north side of the hill.
The lack of modern navigational aids at the Florianopolis airport also contributed to the accident, since unlike the major airports of the time using the VOR and ILS / DME systems, Florianópolis airport used the obsolete NDB as the only aid to navigation.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Transbrasil Flight 303” (revision 1372251460, 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: Transbrasil Flight 303
- Article
- Transbrasil Flight 303
- Revision
- 1372251460 · 2026-08-31 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7833816
- 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 "Transbrasil Flight 303" (page 28994334, revision 1372251460)
- 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
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- 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.