Cruzeiro do Sul Flight 144 (1963)

Cruzeiro do Sul Flight 144 was a domestic commercial route operated by the company Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul, departing from Belo Horizonte bound for Rio de Janeiro, with stopovers in Florianópolis, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and São Paulo. On the night of 3 May 1963, the aircraft operating this route, a Convair 340 registered PP-CDW, took off from Congonhas Airport in São Paulo at 19:30, bound for Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro. Shortly after takeoff, the crew was alerted by an audible fire warning in one of the engines and tried to return to the airport. During the manoeuvre, the aircraft lost altitude and crashed, causing the deaths of 37 occupants and injuries to thirteen others.

Accident

After a forty-minute delay, caused by the replacement, because of a defect, of the original aircraft that was to operate the 19h air shuttle flight, the aircraft would take off from Congonhas Airport only at 19:40. Shortly after takeoff, the fire and overheating alarms for engine No. 2 (right side) sounded in the cockpit. The pilot declared an emergency and began landing procedures. To deal with the serious problem, the crew chose to shut down and feather engine No. 2 and activate the emergency extinguishers to put out the fire in that engine. During brief contact with the Congonhas control tower, the crew requested visual confirmation of a fire in engine No. 2. On establishing visual contact with the aircraft, the air traffic controller found no signs of fire in the aircraft's engines and passed this information to the crew of the Sirius. Although no fire had been detected in the engine, the fire alarm bell was still ringing. The crew therefore judged it to be a false alarm, but maintained the decision to make an emergency landing.

During the landing procedures, there was an unsuccessful attempt to restart engine No. 2, and the propeller of this shut-down engine would windmill, causing great drag and impairing the aircraft's stability. After beginning a turn to line up with the runway, the aircraft lost lift and fell on a house located at No. 2356 Avenida Piassanguaba, near the airport, catching fire immediately afterwards. Despite the strong impact with the ground, twelve passengers (among them the actor Renato Consorte) and one crew member would survive the accident. Among the dead was the deputy Miguel Bahury, responsible for chairing a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry in the Chamber of Deputies whose purpose was to investigate the causes of the large number of air accidents occurring in the country at that time. The creation of this commission had been prompted by the accident involving another Convair 340 on REAL Transportes Aéreos Flight 435, in which deputy Bahury's wife lost her life.