Panair do Brasil Flight 263

Panair do Brasil Flight 263 was a scheduled passenger flight of Panair do Brasil. It covered the route from London Heathrow Airport to Ministro Pistarini International Airport. With scheduled stopovers in Paris, Lisbon, Dakar, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Asunción. On 16 June 1955, the aircraft involved, a Lockheed L-149 Constellation, crashed while descending, 13 km from the airport, specifically in Fernando de la Mora (Paraguay). There were 24 people on board, of whom 16 died.

The accident occurred during the descent, when the aircraft descended lower than permitted for the approach to Silvio Pettirossi International Airport and struck a 12-metre tree on a private property in Fernando de la Mora; the aircraft continued dragging along for 500 metres until hitting another tree and caught fire. At that time it was the worst aviation accident to have taken place in Paraguay.

Accident

The aircraft was on the São Paulo - Asunción leg of the flight when the crew contacted Asunción at 01:05 a.m. They were cleared to land on runway 02 and were asked to report when they were on final approach. The last contact was at 01:15; the aircraft was descending through the clouds until the left wing struck a 12-metre tree. Part of the wing broke off and the aircraft continued, knocking down coconut palms. About 500 metres from the point of initial impact, the aircraft came into violent contact with a tree at ground level, uprooting it, so that the fuselage came to rest in a position approximately 30° to the left of the flight path. At this point, the fuselage caught fire and the aircraft was completely destroyed.