Panair do Brasil Flight 026

On Panair do Brasil Flight 026 (flight number: PB026), on 20 August 1962, a Douglas DC-8-33 of the Brazilian airline Panair do Brasil was involved in an accident. The aircraft, which was to operate a flight from Buenos Aires to London, crashed after a rejected take-off at Rio de Janeiro-Galeão Airport. 14 people were killed in the accident.

Accident sequence

The flight was to go from Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro to London; a further stopover in Lisbon was planned. The first leg of the flight from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro passed without any particular incidents. Before the onward flight a new cockpit crew boarded.

The take-off run began at 23:03 local time after the aircraft had received clearance to take off from runway 14. The aircraft accelerated quite normally; there was nothing unusual. The captain later stated that during the acceleration, at a speed of 100 to 135 knots (approx. 185–250 km/h), i.e. the decision speed, he had noticed that the control column was too far back and that he had pushed it forward. At this point the first officer let go of the control column, which corresponded to the usual procedure on reaching decision speed. When the aircraft reached a speed of 148 knots (approx. 274 km/h), i.e. the rotation speed, the captain pulled the control column towards him to lift off, but the aircraft did not respond, whereupon he pushed it forward again. The flight data recorder did not record these manoeuvres; instead it is assumed that the crew had already made a premature attempt to take off at 132 knots (approx. 244 km/h). Finally, 14 seconds after reaching decision speed, both pilots pulled their control columns back. Since the captain had already reduced thrust at this point, the aircraft's nose did not rise. According to the flight data recorder, the brakes were also applied five seconds before the thrust was reduced. The first traces of braking could be seen 2300 metres from the runway threshold.

When the captain realised that he would no longer be able to bring the aircraft to a stop on the remaining stretch of runway, he steered the DC-8 to the right and pulled the thrust back completely. Clear and continuous brake marks could be seen from a distance of 2600 metres from the runway threshold. The brakes were applied, but not the thrust reversers. The first officer applied full thrust in order to slow the aircraft further with the thrust reversers and tried to activate the spoilers, but did not succeed, as he could no longer reach the button because of the violent shaking after overrunning the runway. The right wing tilted, with the engines scraping along the ground. The left-hand landing gear wheels became caught in the sand beyond the runway, and the engines on the left side also touched the ground. In the ground contacts the jet compressors and reverser vanes of the engines were torn off, whereupon the aircraft was accelerated again by the thrust. The aircraft broke through the airport perimeter fence at high speed and shot across the expressway behind it, with the two engines and landing gear wheels on the left side breaking off. The aircraft finally plunged into the sea 50 metres from the shore.

Cause of the accident

In investigating the accident, the investigators found that the take-off was rejected at a speed of 175 knots (approx. 324 km/h) after the aircraft had not rotated. The fact that the aircraft's nose stayed on the ground was due to an incorrect horizontal stabiliser setting, which had been adjusted from an angle of + 3 degrees, and thus a nose-up attitude, to −1.75 degrees. The investigators noted that, in addition to the high ground-roll speed, the captain's delayed initiation of the rejected take-off and the failure to follow standard procedures for such situations had contributed to the accident.