VASP Flight 234 was a domestic flight of the Viação Aérea São Paulo (VASP) airline from São Paulo-Congonhas Airport to

Brasília International Airport Brasília–President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport () , also known as the Brasília International Airport, is the international airport serving Brasília, located in the Administrative regions of the Federal District (Brazil), admin ...

. On May 25, 1982, an accident involving a Boeing 737-2A1 registered as PP-SMY occurred on this flight when the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

landed the aircraft incorrectly due to an

optical illusion In visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide varie ...

, causing the aircraft to skid off of the runway. Two passengers were killed in the accident.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-2A1, which was 7 years and 8 months old at the time of the accident. It was assembled at Boeing's factory in Renton, Washington, and first flew on 24 September 1974, before being delivered to VASP in October. The aircraft had the

serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...

20970 and was the 376th Boeing 737 from current production. The aircraft was registered with the aircraft registration PP-SMY. The

twin-engine A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. Fuel efficien ...

narrow-body A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast airline seat, seating in a aircraft cabin, cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner ...

aircraft was equipped with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 engines.

Passengers and crew

There were 118 people on board the aircraft, including 112 passengers and 6 crew members.

Accident

The flight from São Paulo to Brasília initially went without any special incidents. The landing in Brasília was carried out at 23:40 in heavy rain. When landing, the aircraft touched down with the nose gear first. This then collapsed under the load. The aircraft left the runway and broke into two pieces near row 12. Most people were injured there. Two passengers were killed and 17 others were injured.

Cause

It was determined that the captain had previously activated the system to spray the cockpit window with a rain deflector liquid. The incorrect use of the agent resulted in an optical illusion in the rain, causing the captain to touch down the aircraft first with the nose landing gear instead of with the main landing gear as intended. It was also revealed that the captain had visited a doctor shortly before the flight and complained of ongoing health problems. However, he claimed that he was still able to work and stated that he had to take the flight to

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

. Other VASP pilots complained that they were under a lot of work pressure from the airline and blamed the tense working atmosphere on the state airline's vice president, Alex Barroso, who was also the commander of the

Brazilian Air Force The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Brazilian Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941), Army and Brazilian Naval Aviation, Nav ...

. The aviation authority explained that the meteorological conditions at the time accident would have been above the required minimum.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1982 20th century in Brasília Aviation accidents and incidents in 1982 Aviation accidents and incidents in Brazil Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original

234 __NOTOC__ Year 234 (Roman numerals, CCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pupienus and Sulla (or, less frequently, year 987 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...