1997 Embraer EMB-121 PP-EHJ accident
Air Services Division of the State of Rio Grande do Sul Embraer EMB 121 Xingu · Loss of control in flight due to pilot error
From Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA) to Serafin Enoss Bertaso Airport (XAP)
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
- 7 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- 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
- Government
Embraer EMB 121 Xingu
- Aircraft type
- Embraer EMB-121
- 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-EHJ
- Onboard fatalities
- 7
- Route
- From Porto Alegre-Salgado Filho International Airport (POA)To Serafin Enoss Bertaso Airport (XAP)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1997 Embraer EMB-121 PP-EHJ accident occurred on the night of 1 October 1997, when an EMB-121 Xingu crashed while attempting to land at Chapecó Airport, carrying doctors from Porto Alegre. All 7 occupants died on impact.
Accident
The aircraft took off from Porto Alegre International Airport at 20:04, with arrival at Chapecó Airport expected at 21:30. The weather at Chapecó airport was heavy rain, operating under instrument flight conditions. After 52 minutes of flight, the pilots reported that they were 10 minutes from the XPC NDB fix. They subsequently began the ECHO 1 procedure for runway 29. Not obtaining visual contact with the runway, they reported a go-around on final approach.
There was another aircraft in the traffic pattern carrying out the ECHO 2 procedure for the other runway threshold, runway 11. That aircraft obtained visual contact and landed normally. The pilots reported the base turn and final approach, when they were informed by Chapecó Radio of the wind and ceiling conditions, as well as of the existence of rain showers over the aerodrome.
At 21:40, while the aircraft was making another landing attempt, it ended up colliding with trees 10 to 15 m tall, about 2.5 km from runway 29, catching fire in the left wing, but this was put out by the rain. Initially, six occupants died due to the impact of the aircraft with the ground. Cláudio Lança was still found alive by the rescue teams, but ended up dying on the way to the hospital due to his serious injuries.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation was carried out by the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA). Evidence was found that at the time of the crash the engines were at almost maximum power and there was no bank angle of the wings, as if a stall were occurring. According to some pilots who operate in the region, there is a highway near runway 29 where there is a motel whose reddish lighting resembled the runway threshold lights. This fact may have contributed to a possible illusion of the crew members regarding the correct position of the runway threshold. As the aircraft did not present any technical problem, the occurrence of a stall is unlikely.
The investigation concluded that the pilots probably experienced anxiety at the time of landing, due to the go-around and the weather conditions, a factor that may have contributed to the accident.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Portuguese Wikipedia article “Acidente do Embraer EMB-121 prefixo PP-EHJ em 1997” (revision 68412522, 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 Embraer EMB-121 prefixo PP-EHJ em 1997
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 68412522 · 2024-08-10 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q106542293
- 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 Embraer EMB-121 prefixo PP-EHJ em 1997" (page 6423490, revision 68412522), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article 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): A Xingu of the Rio Grande do Sul state government's air service carrying doctors: a state government flight. The article: "Embraer EMB 121 Xingu · PP-EHJ · operator Air Services Division of the State of Rio Grande do Sul"
- 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.