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1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash

26 Sept 1949 · Popocatépetl

Douglas DC-3A · Controlled flight into terrain

From Tuxtla Gutiérrez to Mexico City

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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
24 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
24
Survivors
0
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-3A

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-3
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
XA-DUH
Onboard fatalities
24
Route
From Tuxtla GutiérrezTo Mexico City

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash was an aviation accident on 26 September 1949, when a Mexicana de Aviacion Douglas DC-3 en route to Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico crashed into the Popocatépetl volcano, killing all 24 people on board. The aircraft, registered as XA-DUH, was flying from Tapachula on a route that originated in Tuxtla Gutiérrez with intermediate stops in Ixtepec and Oaxaca. The dead included actress Blanca Estela Pavón and senator Gabriel Ramos Millan.

The DC-3's pilot was identified as Alfonso Reboul Lasscassies.

Notably, in December of the same year, another DC-3 of the same airline also had an accident; the second one killing all 17 people on board.

Accident

The DC-3 left Tapachula at 12:40 local time, for a one hour flight to Mexico City. According to investigations, the DC-3 flying the route that day faced severe turbulence as it arrived over Mexico City. The pilot communicated with an air force base, telling them they were near the volcano.

The airplane was completely destroyed.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash” (revision 1362954564, 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: 1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash
Article
1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash
Revision
1362954564 · 2026-07-07 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q108782071
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 "1949 Mexicana de Aviación DC-3 crash" (page 68752223, revision 1362954564)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator is an airline according to Wikidata
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.