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Douglas DC-6 crash in Puerto Montt

24 Jul 1977 · Near Puerto Montt

Chilean Air Force Douglas DC-6 · Controlled flight into terrain

From President Carlos Ibáñez International Airport (PUQ) to El Tepual International Airport (PMC)

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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
38 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
44
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
30
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-6

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-6
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
989
Onboard fatalities
38
Route
From President Carlos Ibáñez International Airport (PUQ)To El Tepual International Airport (PMC)

Approximate · Estimated position: Puerto Montt, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

On 24 July 1977. A Douglas DC-6B aircraft belonging to the Chilean Air Force crashed in a swamp in Puerto Montt, Chile; 38 of the 82 people died.

Accident

When the aircraft took off from Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo airport in Punta Arenas with 75 passengers and 7 crew members on board. Despite very adverse weather conditions, the pilots decided to attempt to land at the destination airport of Tepual in Puerto Montt. The machine crashed in a swamp and burst into flames. 38 of the 82 people died. This is the third deadliest air disaster in the history of Chile.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Accidente del Douglas DC-6 en Puerto Montt” (revision 175407590, 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

Spanish Wikipedia article: Accidente del Douglas DC-6 en Puerto Montt
Article
Accidente del Douglas DC-6 en Puerto Montt
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
175407590 · 2026-09-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q11737234
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
es Wikipedia article "Accidente del Douglas DC-6 en Puerto Montt" (page 11558700, revision 175407590), 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 armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Spanish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.