1983 VASP accident near Manaus
Viação Aérea São Paulo Boeing 737-2A1C · The 1983 VASP accident near Manaus occurred on 22 February 1983
From Eduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO) to Congonhas–Deputado Freitas Nobre Airport (CGH)
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
- 2 · 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
Boeing 737-2A1C
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- 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-SNC
- Operator
- Viação Aérea São Paulo
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Eduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)To Congonhas–Deputado Freitas Nobre Airport (CGH)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 1983 VASP accident near Manaus occurred on 22 February 1983. On that day, a Boeing 737-2A1C, which had just taken off from Manaus Airport on a cargo flight, crashed shortly after takeoff. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the accident, and the two crew members on board also died.
Accident sequence
The aircraft was to operate a cargo flight on that day. For this purpose the Boeing was loaded with 352 colour television sets manufactured in the Manaus Free Trade Zone. The weight of the aircraft including cargo was 116,698 pounds, and thus 302 pounds below the maximum permissible takeoff weight. The takeoff was carried out at 2:58 at night from runway 28. During takeoff, witnesses observed the aircraft lifting off with an unusually shallow roll angle. Shortly afterwards it suddenly rolled to the left and crashed to the ground, exploded and burst into flames. The two crew members were killed and the aircraft was completely destroyed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cockpit voice recorder recordings showed that while the first officer was occupied with flight preparation and working through the "Safety Inspection", "Cockpit Preparation" and "Before Start" checklists, the captain was dealing with matters relating to the customs clearance of the cargo and the payment of fees. The problem with the customs clearance was that the cargo had been brought directly to the aircraft without having gone through the usual checks. While the first officer was working through the checklists, he expressed concern several times. According to the voice recorder recordings, the captain did not at any time check the first officer's takeoff preparations. Already while the turbines were being started, the pilots were simultaneously having a conversation on a topic that had nothing to do with carrying out the takeoff and flight. During taxiing, the captain brusquely reprimanded the first officer. Nevertheless, a friendly conversation developed, in the course of which the two pilots mused about their return flight to Rio de Janeiro and about how they should then travel on to Sao Paulo. Despite the friendly relationship, the investigators considered it conceivable that the first officer was disappointed that his instructor and friend had not supported him in the flight preparation.
The captain was said to have carried out a manoeuvre with the simulated engine failure for which he had not been trained, and he had also not received any instruction from the airline to carry out such a manoeuvre.
Because of the friendly relationship between the two pilots, the captain was said to have had too much confidence in the first officer's performance and to have insufficiently monitored his actions during the flight preparation phase.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der VASP bei Manaus 1983” (revision 245151420, 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 VASP bei Manaus 1983
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 245151420 · 2024-05-20 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q126000438
- 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 VASP bei Manaus 1983" (page 12892515, revision 245151420), 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A VASP (Viação Aérea São Paulo) Boeing 737 on a cargo flight carrying television sets: an air carrier flight. The article: "a Boeing 737-2A1C, which had just taken off from Manaus Airport on a cargo flight"
- 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.