Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 Explained

Occurrence Type:Accident
Date:14 May 2004
Summary:Undetermined
Site:Amazon rainforest, near Eduardo Gomes International Airport, Manaus, Brazil
Aircraft Type:Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia
Operator:Rico Linhas Aéreas
Tail Number:PT-WRO
Origin:São Paulo de Olivença Airport, São Paulo de Olivença, Brazil
Stopover:Tefé Airport, Tefé, Brazil
Destination:Eduardo Gomes International Airport, Manaus, Brazil
Passengers:30
Crew:3
Fatalities:33
Survivors:0

Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from São Paulo de Olivença, northeast Brazil to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state. On 14 May 2004, the aircraft operating the flight, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed into the dense Amazon rainforest while on approach to Manaus. All 33 people on board were killed.

It was the deadliest accident involving an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia and the deadliest in the airline's history, surpassing the previous crash of Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4823, which occurred 2 years before the crash of Flight 4815.

Accident

The flight was operated by Manaus-based regional airline Rico Linhas Aéreas. The Embraer 120ER Brasília registration PT-WRO had 30 passengers and 3 crew on board, all of them Brazilians. At the time, the weather was reportedly good. 20nmi from the airport, as the aircraft was following the landing pattern to Manaus, air traffic control vectored the flight out of the landing pattern to the left to make room for a priority medical flight. At 18:34, Flight 4815 radioed they were at 2000feet when the aircraft suddenly dropped off radar.[1] Controllers tried to restore contact with the plane, to no avail. A search and rescue team was assembled, and later found scattered human remains and fragments of plane near the airport. Eyewitnesses reported that they saw a fireball falling during the crash.[2]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ACCIDENT DETAILS. www.planecrashinfo.com. 2020-03-07.
  2. Web site: Accident description PT-WRO. Ranter. Harro. aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. 14 July 2011.