VASP Flight 168

VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727-212, serial number 21347, registered PP-SRK, was a scheduled passenger flight from São Paulo to Fortaleza, Brazil which, on June 8, 1982, crashed into terrain while descending into Fortaleza, killing all 137 people on board.[1]

VASP Flight 168
A VASP Boeing 727-2A1, similar to the one involved in the accident.
Accident
DateJune 8, 1982
SummaryControlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
SiteAratanha Mountains
near Pacatuba, CE, Brazil
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 727-212
OperatorVASP
IATA flight No.VP 168
ICAO flight No.VSP 168
Call signVASP 168
RegistrationPP-SRK
Flight originCongonhas Airport
São Paulo, Brazil
StopoverGaleão International Airport
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
DestinationPinto Martins International Airport
Fortaleza, Brazil
Occupants137
Passengers128
Crew9
Fatalities137
Survivors0

The crash of Flight 168 remains the third-highest death toll of any aviation accident in Brazil after Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 and TAM Airlines Flight 3054.[2]

Occupants

There are 128 passengers and 9 crew members on board flight 168. In command is Captain Fernando Antônio Vieira de Paiva, a very experienced 43-year-old pilot, with more than 15,000 hours logged in the air. He is accompanied by his first officer, 28-year-old Carlos Roberto Duarte Barbosa, who has 5,324 hours of flying experience. 31-year-old José Erimar de Freitas has almost 10 years of experience in VASP - 8 of them as an aircraft engineer. He qualified as a flight engineer in 1979 and currently has 279 hours of flying experience. Also on board is Edson Queiroz. He's a Brazilian entrepreneur, founder of one of the largest business groups in Brazil, who boarded Flight 168 at the last minute, exchanging his next-morning VARIG flight ticket for a VASP night ticket, due to an early meeting in Fortaleza.

Flight history

Flight 168's first leg was from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, which was completed uneventfully. The flight then departed Rio de Janeiro for Fortaleza. As the flight approached its destination, it was cleared to descend from its cruising altitude of flight level 330 – approximately 33,000 feet (10,000 m) mean sea level – to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Flying at night, with the lights of the city of Fortaleza in front, the Boeing 727 descended through its 5,000-foot (1,500 m) clearance limit, and kept descending until it crashed into a mountainside at 2,500 feet (760 m), killing all 137 on board.[3][4]

Investigation

Investigation revealed that the captain, possibly disoriented due to bright lights from the city ahead, continued the descent well below the 5,000 feet (1,500 m) clearance limit, despite being warned twice by the altitude alert system, as well as by the co-pilot, of the terrain ahead. As the Boeing kept descending, it struck a wooded mountainside at 2,500 feet (760 m) and crashed.

From the final cockpit voice recorder translated transcript:[5]

F/O = First Officer
CAPT = Captain

F/O: Can you see there are some hills in front?
CAPT: What? There's what?
F/O: Some hills, isn't there?
[Sound of altitude alert]

[Sound of impact]

See also

References
  1. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  2. Ranter, Harro. "Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Geographical regions > Brazil air safety profile". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  3. "VASP 168 – O ÚLTIMO VÔO DO PP-SRK" [VASP 168 – Last flight of PP-SRK] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
  4. Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "VASP 168". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928–1996 [The witch trail: history of Brazilian commercial aviation in the 20th century through its accidents 1928-1996] (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 318–326. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
  5. "Plane Crash Info accident record".

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