1990 Fernando de Noronha accident
Government of Pernambuco Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante · The 1990 Fernando de Noronha air accident occurred on 20 September 1990
From Fernando de Noronha Airport (FEN) to Recife/Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre International Airport (REC)
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
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante
- Aircraft type
- Embraer EMB-110
- 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-FAW
- Operator
- Government of Pernambuco
- Onboard fatalities
- 12
- Route
- From Fernando de Noronha Airport (FEN)To Recife/Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre International Airport (REC)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
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 1990 Fernando de Noronha air accident occurred on 20 September 1990. On that day an Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante of the government of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after take-off from Fernando de Noronha Airport. All 12 occupants on board the aircraft were killed in the accident.
Sequence of events
The destination of the government flight was the state capital, Recife. Only 30 minutes had passed since the aircraft's landing at Fernando de Noronha when the engines were started for the onward flight. The first officer worked through the checklists alone while the captain was still walking to the cockpit. The aircraft was immediately taxied for take-off.
The aircraft took off at 19:40 local time from runway 12 of Fernando de Noronha Airport. After take-off the aircraft climbed steeply into the air and banked to the right. Shortly afterwards eyewitnesses saw the aircraft plunge into the sea in a dive.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation assumed that, because of the rush before take-off, the crew had not worked through the checklists properly, as a result of which the aircraft took to the air with an incorrect take-off configuration. The investigators also found that both pilots had very little flight experience with the Embraer EMB-110. In addition, they had not sat in an aircraft of this type for some time before the accident. The captain had last flown an EMB-110 141 days before the accident, the first officer 133 days before the accident.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall bei Fernando de Noronha 1990” (revision 203108110, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall bei Fernando de Noronha 1990
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 203108110 · 2020-08-25 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q69541854
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall bei Fernando de Noronha 1990" (page 10948746, revision 203108110), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- 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 named as a government agency in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.