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Viasa Flight 897
Accident
A VIASA Douglas DC-8-53 similar to the one involved in the accident.
Date	30 May 1961 (1961-05-30)
Summary	Loss of control; cause undetermined
Site	Off Lisbon
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-8-53
Aircraft name	Fridtjof Nansen
Operator	KLM on behalf of Viasa
Registration	PH-DCL
Flight origin	Fiumicino Airport
1st stopover	Barajas Airport
2nd stopover	Portela Airport
3rd stopover	Santa Maria Airport
Last stopover	Portela Airport
Destination	Simón Bolívar International Airport
Occupants	61
Passengers	47
Crew	14
Fatalities	61
Survivors	0

Viasa Flight 897 was an international scheduled Rome–Madrid–Lisbon–Santa Maria–Caracas^[nb 1] passenger service that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal on 30 May 1961, shortly after takeoff from Portela Airport. There were no survivors among the 61 occupants of the aircraft.^[1]

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Aircraft

Named Fridtjof Nansen, the aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-8-53, registration PH-DCL, owned by KLM and operated on Viasa's behalf.^[2] With constructor's number 45615/131, the airframe was the newest one of the type in KLM's fleet at the time the accident took place; it had accumulated 209 flight hours.^[1]^[4]

Description

The crash of Viasa Flight 897 occurred on the third leg of a trip that originated in Rome, Italy, and was scheduled to conclude in Caracas, Venezuela. Intermediate stops were to be made in Madrid, Spain, Lisbon, and on Santa Maria Island.

At the time the airliner lifted off from Lisbon at 01:15 UTC, the nighttime sky had a cloud base of 3,700 feet (1,100 m). A few minutes after take off the DC-8 entered a spiral dive to the left shortly after sending two short messages to Air Traffic Control. The pilot over-corrected to the right and the aircraft struck the sea with a pitch angle of approximately 25° nose down.

Investigation

The cause for the crash of Viasa Flight 897 was never determined by either Portuguese or Dutch authorities. The official report out of Portugal concluded "Notwithstanding a very thorough, time-consuming investigation, in which many authorities and experts co-operated, it was not possible to establish a probable cause of the accident."

The Netherlands, as state of registry for the aircraft, commented: "Though there are no direct indications in this respect, the Board regards it as possible that the accident was due to the pilot or pilots being misled by instrument failure, in particular of the artificial horizon, or to the pilot having been distracted, so that a serious deviation from the normal flight path was not discovered in time."

Legacy

At the time it occurred, Flight 897 was the third fatal crash of a big jetliner since they were introduced into service in 1958.^[2] It was the worst civilian aviation incident ever to take place in Portugal until the crash of TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 in 1977.^[1]

Notes

^ There exists a discrepancy over the route served by the flight depending upon the source.^[1]^[2] Nevertheless, a July 1961 (1961-07) timetable shows that the route covered by the flight at the time the accident took place actually had its origin in Rome and had Caracas as its final destination, with stopovers at Madrid, Lisbon, and Santa Maria Island.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Accident description for PH-DCL at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 26 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "KLM-Viasa DC-8 tragedy". Flight: 814. 8 June 1961. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
^ "Viasa Summer time table (Effective 1 July 1961) – Europe to South America". Airline Timetable Images. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
^ "Unlucky KLM". Flight: 819. 15 June 1961. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 1 May 2012. These incidents come on top of the complete loss, with all 61 on board, of KLM's newest Douglas DC-8 off Lisbon, when under charter to Viasa (Venezuela).