Crash of the Avro York LV-XIG
Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina Avro York · Controlled flight into terrain CFIT
From Heathrow Airport, London to Buenos Aires
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
- 20 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- 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
Avro York
- Aircraft type
- Avro YORK
- 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
- LV-XIG
- Operator
- Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina
- Onboard fatalities
- 20
- Route
- From Heathrow Airport, LondonTo Buenos Aires
Approximate · Estimated position: Rio de Janeiro, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The crash of the Avro York LV-XIG occurred on 23 December 1946, when an Avro York of the company Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina (FAMA) struck a mountain near Morro do Sertão west of Tijuca National Park, killing 20 of its 21 occupants.
Accident
The Avro York registered LV-XIG took off from London on 22 December, making stopovers in Paris, Dakar and Natal. This was to be the inaugural transatlantic journey between Argentina and Great Britain.
On the 23rd, on approaching Rio (the last stopover before Buenos Aires, the final destination of the transatlantic flight) it encountered bad weather, mainly heavy rain, and contacted the Galeão airport tower at around 11:30 (local time). Its arrival was scheduled for 12:30.
During the approach to land, the aircraft became lost in dense fog and ran into high ground in the Morro do Sertão area at around 12:00, west of Tijuca National Park. As the aircraft was close to landing and carrying little fuel, it did not explode. This made it difficult to locate the wreckage, which was found by local farmers a few hours after the crash. Because the site was difficult to access, firefighters would begin removing the bodies more than 12 hours after the accident.
Of the 21 occupants, only 2 would survive the impact. One of the survivors, Enrique Lacroix (a FAMA employee), would die as a result of the severity of his injuries. Thus, only Claudio Mendoza Rios (a lieutenant in the Peruvian Air Force) would survive the disaster. Among the dead was the former intervenor of the province of Salta and then minister of the Argentine embassy in Portugal, Arturo Fassio. During the removal of the wreckage, valuables such as money and jewellery were found among the passengers' baggage. These valuables would be stolen owing to the inefficiency of the authorities, who would notice the theft only many days later.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Portuguese Wikipedia article “Queda do Avro York LV-XIG” (revision 69364644, 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
Portuguese Wikipedia article: Queda do Avro York LV-XIG
- Article
- Queda do Avro York LV-XIG
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 69364644 · 2025-01-15 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q10356046
- 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
- pt Wikipedia article "Queda do Avro York LV-XIG" (page 3633168, revision 69364644), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- 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
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): The FAMA Avro York was carrying passengers on the company's inaugural transatlantic service from London to Buenos Aires: an airline passenger flight. The article: "This was to be the inaugural transatlantic journey between Argentina and Great Britain."
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Portuguese Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.