| - | ACCIDENT DETAILS |
| Date: | September 03, 1989 |
| Time: | 2045 |
| Location: | Near Sao Jose do Xingu, Brazil |
| Operator: | Varig |
| Flight #: | 254 |
| Route: | Maraba - Belem |
| AC Type: | Boeing B-737-241 |
| Registration: | PP-VMK |
| cn / ln: | 21006/398 |
| Aboard: | 54 (passengers:48 crew:6) |
| Fatalities: | 13 (passengers:13 crew:0) |
| Ground: | 0 |
| Summary: | A series of navigation errors led to the aircraft running out of fuel and crashing into the jungle. The crew was working with a filight plan that showed the course in tenths of a degree instead of in the usual whole degrees. When the flight plan indicated 0270 degrees, the crew should have been flying at 027 degrees. Instead they flew at 270 degrees (west).Therefore, the crew flew in the wrong direction, even though Belem was north of Maraba and the sun was setting right in front of them. Then they assumed they had overshot Belem and flew straight back east. Then they began following a river which they assumed was the Amazon which would lead them to Belem, but it was the Xingu river. Finally, they tuned in a radio station and homed in on it assuming it was a Belem station, which it wasn't. |
Sources
Copyright © Richard Kebabjian / www.planecrashinfo.com