1976 Venezuelan Air Force C-130 crash

The Tragedy of the Azores or Tragedy of the University Orfeón, as it was known by the press at the time, was an accident that occurred on 3 September 1976 when a Lockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft of the Venezuelan Air Force crashed on a hill just outside the runway of Lajes Field on Terceira Island in the Azores Archipelago, while carrying out approach maneuvers under heavy rain, associated with Hurricane Emmy. The Hercules was transporting members of the University Choir of the Central University of Venezuela to Barcelona, Spain to participate in a choral event.

Venezuelan Air Force C-130H crash

A C-130H of the Venezuelan Air Force (today Bolivarian Military Aviation), similar to the one that crashed.
Accident
Date	3 September 1976 (1976-09-03)
Summary	Crashed in bad weather conditions due to Hurricane Emmy
Site	Near Lajes Airbase, Terceira Island, Azores Archipelago, Portugal
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed C-130H Hercules
Operator	Bolivarian Military Aviation of Venezuela
Registration	FAV-7772
Flight origin	Simón Bolívar International Airport, Venezuela
1st stopover	El Libertador Air Base, Maracay, Venezuela
2nd stopover	Naval Air Station Bermuda, St. David's Island, Bermuda
Last stopover	Lajes Airbase, Azores, Portugal
Destination	Barcelona, Spain
Occupants	68
Passengers	58
Crew	10
Fatalities	68
Survivors	0

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Lockheed C-130H Hercules with registration FAV-7772, serial number 4408, property of the Venezuelan Air Force. It was manufactured in 1971 and had been operating in the country for five years and was assigned to Air Transport Group No. 6.

Accident

Background

The reason for the University Orfeón's trip was to go to Barcelona, Spain, for the International Festival of Choral Singing, to begin on 4 September 1976, an invitation received two years earlier. The total cost of the ticket with the flag airline Viasa amounted to the sum of 300 thousand bolivars and the Central University of Venezuela did not have such resources. The total number of members of the Orfeón was about 52 people, which resulted in a cost per ticket of between Bs 5,500 and Bs 6,000.

Given the impossibility of paying for the trip, the orfeonistas, with the approval of their director Vinicio Adames, organized themselves into a commission, and through the representative of the Federation of University Centers, in a meeting with the president of the republic Carlos Andrés Pérez, They requested the support of the Venezuelan Air Force, who offered a FAV plane, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules transport, to fly to Europe. It was not the first time that the FAV supported the Orfeón Universitario on a tour, something that had already happened in 1959, and it was also a commonly used route for refueling spare parts for the military aeromotor fleet of the time.

Flight

The Air Transport Group No. 6 received the order to schedule a flight to Europe in which the members of the University Choir would go as passengers at the end of August 1976. When requesting the weather reports they found out that there was a tropical storm parked over the Azores and that the Lajes Airbase(mandatory stopover of the transfer) was closed. This forced the flight to be suspended several times. But, due to pressure from the director of the Orfeón towards the rector of the university and the president of the republic, the Venezuelan Air Force (in search of a solution to the situation) drew a route with a stopover at the North American Naval Air Base Bermuda, today L.F. Wade International Airport, on Saint David Island, Bermuda. From there, they continued towards the Azores, 1866 nautical miles away. From the Azores they planned to go to Barcelona, 1,347 nautical miles away. From there the FAV C-130H would continue its flight to France and the United Kingdom, where they would drop off another of its passengers, Colonel Alfredo Ramírez G., aeronautical attaché in London, along with his wife and son. If they had been unable to reach the Azores, the alternate airport would have beeb Lisbon Airport, located 841 nautical miles from Lajes, for a total of 2,707 nautical miles from Bermuda. The flight would have been carried out by 2 full crews, of 5 members each.

The Hercules left Maiquetía for the Libertador Base, in Palo Negro, Edo. Aragua, for a technical touch, and from there it continued as planned to Bermuda. Upon arrival in Bermuda, fuel was supplied, the flight plan was registered and the weather forecast was requested, which reported that the storm was continuing and that at the time of arrival at Lajes the airport would be below minimum levels. This led to the decision to begin distributing crew and passenger personnel in the accommodation available on the base and in the residences located around it. Shortly before finishing the distribution, the air base personnel informed the C-130H pilots that, according to a report received, at the time of arrival of the flight to the Azores the runway was going to be clear. With this new information, the personnel are picked up, taking off from the Bermuda Naval Air Base.

Nine hours later, upon arriving at Terceira Island, they faced adverse conditions: zero visibility and the base below minimum levels. According to the press of the time, when the pilots communicated with the control tower, they were answered by a Portuguese soldier who did not know English. On the third attempt to land, the aircraft crashed 200 meters from the runway. There was no explosion since there was no fuel in the tanks, but due to the violence of the impact there were no survivors.