What happened
The flight was approaching Santa Maria-Vila do Porto Airport at night under clear weather conditions. Approximately 150 nautical miles from the destination, the crew reported an estimated time of arrival to air traffic control. Shortly after, the captain adjusted this estimate by ten minutes. During the final approach phase, while descending at an altitude of 3,000 feet, the pilot confirmed visual contact with the runway and indicated they were proceeding under Visual Flight Rules.
Moments later, the aircraft collided with the slope of Mt Redondo, a peak approximately 900 meters high located a few kilometers from the airport. The impact forces destroyed the airframe, and a subsequent post-crash fire consumed the wreckage. All 48 occupants were killed in the accident. The passenger manifest included notable figures such as French boxer Marcel Cerdan, violinist Ginette Neveu, pianist Jean Neveu, and Walt Disney Studios artistic director Kay Kamen. The crew complement consisted of pilots, mechanics, radio operators, a navigator, stewards, and a stewardess.
Findings
The official inquiry concluded that the accident resulted from inaccurate navigation caused by an undetected failure in the receiving direction finding system or abnormal radio propagation. This technical issue was compounded by overconfidence stemming from the favorable weather conditions at the arrival zone. Because the weather was good, the captain did not verify his radio position as he would have done in adverse conditions. Ultimately, visual confusion in the darkness led to the collision with the terrain.