VARIG accident near Bagé
Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando · Loss of control due to structural failure after an in-flight fire
From Comandante Gustavo Kraemer Airport (BGX) 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
- 40 · 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
- 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-VCF
- Operator
- Varig
- Onboard fatalities
- 40
- Route
- From Comandante Gustavo Kraemer Airport (BGX)To Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The VARIG accident near Bagé occurred on 7 April 1957 on the domestic scheduled flight of a VARIG Curtiss C-46D-10-CU from Bagé to Porto Alegre. On this flight, after a fire developed in the landing gear well, the aircraft was flown back to the departure airport. During a go-around manoeuvre, a wing structurally weakened by the fire broke off the aircraft, whereupon the Curtiss crashed to the ground. The five crew members and all 35 passengers were killed.
Accident sequence
Shortly after take-off a fire developed in the left main landing gear well. The captain mistakenly assumed that the fire had broken out in the engine, feathered the propeller of engine No. 1 (left) and flew a circuit in order to land at Bagé Airport. On final approach he tried to extend the landing gear; however, he did not succeed, since the fire was spreading in the landing gear well and not in the engine and had apparently already caused parts of the landing gear mechanism to melt by this time. To avoid a belly landing, the captain applied full thrust with the intention of going around. Over the intersection of runways 05 and 23, the aircraft's left wing broke off from the fuselage and the aircraft crashed. All 40 occupants were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be a fire in the landing gear well and the resulting in-flight separation of the left wing.
The captain's incorrect assessment of the situation was noted as a contributing factor. The captain had failed to correctly assess the intensity of the fire in the landing gear well, since he thought that by applying the procedure prescribed in the “Regulations for C-46” the fire had been extinguished or had become insignificant.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der VARIG bei Bagé” (revision 237027588, 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 Bagé
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237027588 · 2023-09-04 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q10265408
- 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 Bagé" (page 12572736, revision 237027588), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article 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.