Accidents and Incidents
On January 31, 1951, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster operated by the Portuguese Air Force crashed into the sea while approaching Lajes Field, having taken off from Lisbon, Portugal, killing all 14 on board.
On August 9, 1954, a Lockheed L-749A-79 Constellation operated by Avianca crashed three minutes after take off. It flew left into the hills instead of right towards the sea, killing all 30 on board.
On September 3, 1976, a Venezuelan Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed while attempting an emergency landing during Hurricane Emmy. On final approach, a wind gust slammed the aircraft into a hillside, killing all 68 people aboard. Most of the passengers were members of the student chorus of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, traveling to Barcelona.
On February 4, 1998, an Antonov 12BP operated by Air Luxor crashed on take off when the number three engine shut down and feathered. The plane then veered right, stalled and crashed into a hill killing all 7 on board.
On 24 August 2001, Air Transat Flight 236 en route to Lisbon from Toronto, Canada made an emergency landing at Lajes with no loss of life (the Airbus A330 had 293 passengers and 13 crew members on board), after running out of fuel over the Atlantic and gliding about 120 km (75 mi).
Read more about this topic: Lajes Field
Famous quotes containing the words accidents and/or incidents:
“We are the men of intrinsic value, who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government: we have heads to get money, and hearts to spend it.”
—George Farquhar (1678–1707)
“An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)