1949 Avro York accident in Brazil
British South American Airways Avro 685 York and Unknown and 2 more aircraft · Emergency landing following engine fire
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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 12
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Avro 685 York
- Aircraft type
- Avro 685
- 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
- G-AHEX
- Operator
- British South American Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From London Heathrow Airport (LHR)To Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)
Aircraft 2 · Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 3 · Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 4 · Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Caravelas, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1949 Avro York accident in Brazil occurred on 5 January 1949 with the Avro 685 York G-AHEX of British South American Airways, named Star Venture. After an engine fire, the aircraft had to make an emergency landing near Caravelas, Brazil, in which 3 of the 15 occupants died.
Sequence of the accident
The aircraft lifted off from Natal Airport after an intermediate stop. During the takeoff run, a landing gear tyre burst. The pilots continued the takeoff and during the initial climb inspected the aircraft for damage, but were unable to detect any abnormalities. After three and a half hours of flight towards Rio de Janeiro, engine no. 3 (right inboard) failed. A fire broke out. The pilots immediately initiated a spiralling emergency descent, during which they had difficulty keeping the aircraft under control. In the subsequent crash landing near Caravelas, three of the nine passengers died. All six crew members survived.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be the fire that broke out on board the aircraft during the flight, with the investigators giving the bursting of the starboard main landing gear wheel as a secondary cause. The tyre failure had led to damage to the landing gear and to the hydraulic system. The tread of the burst tyre had torn off the hydraulic support struts, which were recessed into the engine nacelle. This had caused hydraulic fluid to leak out; further damage to the variable-pitch propeller may have occurred. Because of the oil shortage caused by the oil loss, the connecting rods had finally broken off, which caused the engine speed to increase excessively. The non-adjustable propeller and the resulting overspeeding of the engine had led to the engine disintegrating, causing a fire whose intensity had increased because of the large quantity of oil that had leaked around the nacelle of engine no. 3.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Avro York in Brasilien 1949” (revision 237027564, 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 einer Avro York in Brasilien 1949
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237027564 · 2023-09-04 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q109627582
- 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 einer Avro York in Brasilien 1949" (page 11997742, revision 237027564), 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
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_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.