# 1951 Rio do Sal Linhas Aéreas Paulistas C-47 crash

The 1951 Rio do Sal Linhas Aéreas Paulistas C-47D crash was an aviation accident that occurred on 12 July 1951. During the execution of instrument landing procedures, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain of the company Linhas Aéreas Paulistas collided with a tree located 3 km from the runway of the Aracaju airport. All 33 occupants of the aircraft died in the crash.

## Aircraft

The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was one of the military versions of the Douglas DC-3. During World War II, more than 10,000 aircraft of this model were manufactured. After the end of the conflict, they became redundant for the U.S. military and were sold as surplus war material to be converted into civilian aircraft by hundreds of airlines worldwide. After receiving authorization to operate within national territory, Linhas Aéreas Paulistas acquired 5 Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft, which were delivered in 1946. The crashed aircraft was manufactured in 1944, with the serial number 14822/26267 and registered as PP-LPG.

## Accident

The Douglas C-47 took off early in the morning from Natal airport. After making brief stopovers in Recife and Maceió, it was preparing for the next stopover in Aracaju. Heavy rain in the capital of Sergipe made landing difficult. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the crew decided to perform an instrument-guided landing using NDB. At 9 am, during the landing attempt, one of the aircraft's wings hit a tree located on the banks of the Rio do Sal, about 3 km from the runway threshold. Upon impact, the aircraft crashed to the ground, shattering. All five crew members and twenty-eight passengers died instantly. Among the passengers who died was the governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Jerônimo Dix-sept Rosado Maia. Due to the heavy rain and the crash site being difficult to access, rescue teams reached the wreckage area only 11 hours after the crash.
   I report that the plane PP-LPG, after flying over this field at 8:30 am, crashed in the Rio do Sal in Sobrado, three kilometers from the airport, with all crew members and passengers perishing; the numbers are unknown since the dead are still trapped in the wreckage. Plane completely destroyed. – (a) Comte. Miranda.

## Consequences

The death of Governor Dix-Sept Rosado caused great commotion in Rio Grande do Norte, and he was buried with state honors. His trip to Rio was official and aimed at signing an agreement with Banco do Brasil for the execution of sanitation improvement works in Natal. Thirteen days after his death, the Mossoró district of Sebastianópolis was renamed Governador Dix-Sept Rosado. Years later, the district was elevated to the status of a municipality.
After World War II, national aviation grew rapidly, but investments in modern navigation equipment and technical staff training did not keep pace with this growth. With air navigation based on obsolete equipment and the fragility of the NDB (which was prone to failures due to electromagnetic interference caused by lightning, radio antennas, etc.) and outdated air charts, in addition to poorly trained crews under pressure to meet increasingly tight schedules, accidents became frequent. However, this did not prevent the growth of national aviation.
This was the fifth aircraft lost in an accident by Linhas Aéreas Paulistas in its 7 years of operation, highlighting the precariousness of its operations. This left only two aircraft remaining, which prevented the company from fulfilling its concession. Consequently, the Aracaju air disaster caused the company's bankruptcy, with the remaining aircraft being acquired by Lóide Aéreo Nacional.