Football and history of plane crashes

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We review in this installment the history of the unfortunate air accidents where football teams have been involved. Photo credits to Graham.

The teams that did not go to the World Cup in Uruguay 1930 declined, fundamentally, because they did not want to make a trip 30 days of going and 30 back from europe. Such practical justification was diluted over time, when air transport gradually replaced sea transport as the main means of intercontinental transport.

Post written by: Esteban Avila
sports journalist
Twitter: @estebanavila

To Brazil 1950, European teams moved by plane. Everyone, minus Italy, who two years before had lived through the tragedy in Torino. Still battered by the crash at Superga (1949), the Azzurri made the journey from Naples to the port of Santos on the ship Sises. It was a month to go and another month to return, where they could barely train on deck. From Switzerland 1954 until today, Never again did a World Cup team travel by boat.

Football and plane crashes

Since we started the story there, Superga was precisely the first major plane crash involving a football team, account that had its sad continuity this Sunday 24 January 2021, with what happened with Palmas de Brasil. What sad events have involved football and aviation?

superga, surroundings of Turin, 5 May 1949

The Fiat G.212 plane was looking to land at Turin airport. He had been bringing the Torino team from Lisbon, who played a friendly with Benfica. An error in the ship's altimeter prevented the pilot from taking into account the proximity of the Superga basilica and it crashed shortly after landing with that building.. They died 31 people on board, 18 of them were members of the first team, crew also died, managers, coaching staff and members of the press. 10 of the players were starters for the Italian National Team.

Munich, 6 February 1958

After qualifying for the semi-finals of the European Cup (hoy Champions League), the Manchester United team was returning to England from Belgrade, where he played with the Red Star. the first stretch, from the capital of the then Yugoslavia to Munich, it was normal. Nevertheless, the runway at Riem airport was frozen and, after two failed takeoff attempts, the Airspeed AS57 Ambassador aircraft, de la British European Airways, crashed into an abandoned building. The investigation alluded to errors of the pilot James, same that were contrasted with the state of the runway and the wings of the plane. Thain was one of the 21 survivors, while they died 8 players, 3 coaching staff members, 8 journalists and 3 crew members.

Viloco, outskirts of La Paz, 26 September 1969

Un Douglas DC-6, Bolivian Air Lloyd, left at 14:00 from Santa Cruz to La Paz. The Strongest team traveled there, who had played a friendly tournament. The ship lost all contact, with both the departure airport and the destination airport. The next day, and after versions of inhabitants of the area, wrecked ship was found. There were no survivors and all died. 74 passengers, between players, coaching staff, managers and crew. The mortal remains took three days to be located in their entirety.. The cause of the accident was impact with the ground without loss of control of the aircraft..

Dniprodzherzhynsk, Soviet Union (today ukraine), 11 august 1979

Two Tupolev aircraft, a 134A and a 134AK, both from Aeroflot, collided in midair. The control tower noted that the two aircraft were passing each other and ordered the 134AK to climb from the 7900 until the 9000. Nevertheless, it was too late to avoid the crash. One of the planes hit the front of the fuselage of the other with its wing and the tragedy occurred. They passed away 19 players and other members of the Pakhtakor Tashkent delegation, Uzbekistan region team, who played in the first division of the Soviet Union. Total, on both aircraft, they died 178 people.

Window, vicinity of Callao, Peru, 8 from December to 1987

It was a holiday and the Alianza Lima team was returning from Pucallpa (Amazon region of Peru), having won a local tournament match. The Fokker F-27 plane was about to land at the Jorge Chávez airport, but when setting the last turn to the track, at the sea level of Ventanilla, all contact was lost. The next day, the search bore fruit when the pilot Edilberto Villar was found alive. Nevertheless, the rest of the 43 passengers died and the bodies of 4 players were never returned by sea. The causes of the accident have always remained on the threshold of controversy, even more so with the subsequent disappearance from the public scene of the pilot.

Librevile, Gabon, 27 april 1993

Zambia enjoyed the best generation of footballers in its history. Las «avispas» estaban listas para dar el gran salto al Mundial de Fútbol. Precisely, in full African qualifiers heading to the USA 1994, they had to travel to Dakar, to play with Senegal. They took a DHC 5D Buffalo plane, that after three stops he had to leave them at the headquarters of the match. The plane had problems on the first stop (Brazzaville, Congo) and when taking off from the second (Libreville, Gabon) a fire was detected in one of the engines, that the pilot sought to counteract by turning off the other. Nevertheless, the ship lost power and ended up falling into the sea. 20 years later, the investigation reported faulty signals on the panel. all died 30 occupants (25 players and coaching staff, 5 crew members). Kalusha Bwalya y Charles Musonda, best known players, they survived because they were going to travel on their own to Dakar.

The Union, Antioquia, Colombia, 28 November 2016

The Chapecoense delegation was on its way to Medellin to play its first international final, the South American Cup, against Atlético Nacional of Colombia. An Avro RJ85, chartered flight to the Bolivian company Lamia, crashed near Rionegro airport, in the paisa capital. They left from Sao Paulo, in flight of Boliviana de Aviacion, to Santa Cruz, where in Viru Viru they took the Lamia charter, that was prevented from flying directly from Brazil to Colombia by international regulations. Problems with the fuel and the occupation of the runway caused the Avro to precipitate already when the passengers had been called to locate themselves in their positions and land.. passed away 71 occupants, they survived 6 (two crew members, three players and a journalist).

National Port, municipality of the Amazonian state of Tocantins, 24 of January of 2021

The final destination was Goiania, where the team would play against Vila Nova for the Green Cup. With ongoing investigation, An unfortunate new air accident brought world football into mourning when the Beechcraft B55 plane, registration number PT-LYG, crashed minutes after taking off with four players and the president of the Palmas Fútbol y Regatas team, confirming the death of all its occupants.

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