VARIG accident near Jaquirana
Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando · The VARIG accident near Jaquirana occurred on 2 August 1949
From Congonhas–Deputado Freitas Nobre Airport (CGH) 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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 31
- 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
Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando
- Aircraft type
- Curtiss C-46
- 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-VBI
- Operator
- Varig
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Congonhas–Deputado Freitas Nobre Airport (CGH)To Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA)
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Jaquirana, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The VARIG accident near Jaquirana occurred on 2 August 1949. On that day, a fire broke out on board a Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando of VARIG, which was operating a domestic scheduled flight from São Paulo to Porto Alegre. While the pilots were trying to make an emergency landing with the aircraft, panic broke out on board, followed by the crash of the aircraft. Five of the 36 people on board were killed in the accident.
Sequence of the accident
The aircraft took off at 11:23 from São Paulo-Congonhas Airport bound for Porto Alegre. About 20 minutes before the expected arrival time, a fire was detected in cargo compartment "G". The captain carried out an emergency descent while the mechanics tried in vain to extinguish the fire. Because of heavy smoke, the flight crew could not see their instruments and had to hold their heads out of the window in order to carry out an emergency landing in hilly terrain. The passengers crowded in panic into the front area of the cabin to escape the fire. This led to a sudden shift in the aircraft's centre of gravity. The aircraft rocked violently during the emergency landing on uneven terrain.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The exact cause of the fire in cargo hold 'G' of the aircraft could not be determined by the investigation commission. Several scenarios were considered, such as the ignition of flammable material in the cargo or passenger baggage, or that a burning cigarette butt had fallen through an open hole for the loading ring or an open rivet hole in the cabin floor, the latter variant being considered very unlikely. The final report stated that several passengers, possibly students, had brought kerosene jugs from Bahia, and a suspicion was expressed that these could have been the source of the fire.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der VARIG bei Jaquirana” (revision 237045992, 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 der VARIG bei Jaquirana
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237045992 · 2023-09-05 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q108894016
- 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 der VARIG bei Jaquirana" (page 11953357, revision 237045992), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- "scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
- 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.