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1949 TAM Perú accident in Cuzco

24 Feb 1949 · Cuzco Airport

Transportes Aereos Militar Douglas DC-3/C-47 · The 1949 TAM Perú accident near Cuzco occurred on 24 February 1949

From Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) to Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)

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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
22 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
4
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
Military

Douglas DC-3/C-47

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-3
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
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
22
Route
From Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)To Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)

Approximate · Estimated position: Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1949 TAM Perú accident near Cuzco occurred on 24 February 1949. On that day a Douglas DC-3/C-47 of the Peruvian Transportes Aereos Militar, with which a domestic charter flight to Lima was to be carried out, crashed during the take-off run at Cuzco Airport. Of the 26 occupants on board, 22 were killed in the accident.

Accident sequence

The aircraft took off at 8:00 local time for the flight to Lima. During the take-off run the left main landing gear broke, causing the wing to scrape along the runway. The propeller of the left engine was torn off and pierced the fuselage, injuring the captain. Before the aircraft came to a stop, it had caught fire from sparks. After the aircraft had come to a stop, the three crew members in the cockpit were unable, because of the heat generated by the fire, to get into the passenger cabin in order to evacuate it. They left the aircraft through the hole that the propeller had slashed into the aircraft. Two passengers were also able to escape. The captain later succumbed to his injuries.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der TAM Perú in Cuzco 1949” (revision 240771661, 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 TAM Perú in Cuzco 1949
Article
Flugunfall der TAM Perú in Cuzco 1949
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
240771661 · 2024-01-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q117086842
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 TAM Perú in Cuzco 1949" (page 12576809, revision 240771661), translated into English with AI assistance
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): The DC-3 belonged to Peru's Transportes Aéreos Militar, the military air transport service: a military transport flight. The article: "a Douglas DC-3/C-47 of the Peruvian Transportes Aereos Militar, with which a domestic charter flight to Lima was to be carried out"
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.