1967 Piper Aztec PP-ETT accident
Government of Ceará Piper PA 23 Aztec and Brazilian Air Force Lockheed T-33 · Mid-air collision
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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 3
- 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
- Military
Aircraft 1 · Piper PA 23 Aztec
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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-ETT
- Operator
- Government of Ceará
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Occupants
- Not stated
- 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
- Route
- From Quixadá Airport (SNQX)To Fortaleza Air Base, Fortaleza, Ceará
Aircraft 2 · Lockheed T-33
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed T-33
- 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
- FAB 4325
- Operator
- Brazilian Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
- 0
- Route
- From Fortaleza Air Base, Fortaleza, CearáTo Fortaleza Air Base, Fortaleza, Ceará
Approximate · Estimated position: Fortaleza, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1967 Piper Aztec PP-ETT accident was an air accident that occurred on 17 July of that year near Fortaleza. On that date, a Piper Aztec PA-23 registered PP-ETT and owned by the state of Ceará was reportedly struck by the wing of a Brazilian Air Force Lockheed T-33 training jet (No. 4325) that was carrying out an instruction flight near Fortaleza Air Base. After the collision, the Piper reportedly lost its stabiliser and its wreckage fell in an area near Fortaleza, while the T-33 landed at Fortaleza air base with a severely damaged wing. Among the passengers of the Piper was Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, who had left the office of President of the Republic four months earlier. He did not survive his injuries and died shortly after the accident.
Accident
After visiting the writer and friend Rachel de Queiroz at her farm in the Quixadá region, Castelo Branco boarded the Piper Aztec with his entourage; its captain was Celso Tinoco Chagas, with his son, Emílio Celso Chagas, as co-pilot. Besides Castelo Branco, the writer Alba Frota, Major Manuel Nepomuceno and Cândido Castello Branco, the marshal's brother, boarded.
The aircraft took off at around 9 in the morning and was bound for Fortaleza Air Base. At the same time, in Fortaleza, four Lockheed T-33 jets took off, in a formation commanded by Lieutenant Areal. The squadron's purpose was to carry out a routine training flight.
At around 9:30, the Piper was flying a over the air circuit of Fortaleza Base when it was reportedly struck by one of the wings of the T-33 flown by cadet officer Alfredo Malan d'Dagrogne. The collision tore off one of the T-33's auxiliary fuel tanks, which, severely damaged, made an emergency landing at the air base. The Piper, for its part, lost its stabiliser and fell in an open area near the air base. The crash caused the deaths of five of the six passengers, with only the co-pilot Emílio Celso Chagas surviving. The bodies were recovered with great difficulty by the army's 23rd Chasseur Battalion. After landing, cadet officer Malan was taken to a military hospital.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Portuguese Wikipedia article “Acidente do Piper Aztec prefixo PP-ETT em 1967” (revision 69537698, 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: Acidente do Piper Aztec prefixo PP-ETT em 1967
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 69537698 · 2025-02-10 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q10356056
- 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 "Acidente do Piper Aztec prefixo PP-ETT em 1967" (page 3952994, revision 69537698), 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: total_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.