ASN Aircraft accident Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando N8040Y Cerro Tupungato
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Status:
Date:Saturday 4 August 1979
Type:Silhouette image of generic C46 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
Operator:Aircraft Line Maintenance
Registration: N8040Y
MSN: 30323
First flight: 1944
Crew:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:Cerro Tupungato (   Chile)
Crash site elevation: 5000 m (16404 feet) amsl
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature:Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:Mendoza-El Plumerillo Airport, MD (MDZ/SAME), Argentina
Destination airport:?
Narrative:
A Curtiss C-46A Commando transport plane was destroyed in an accident in the Andes while on a ferry flight. All five on board were killed.
The aircraft had been bought by a Miami company named Aircraft Line Maintenance from the Argentine airline Austral. The aircraft was re-registered N8040Y from LV-FSA and departed Buenos Aires, Argentina on a ferry flight to Miami via Chile and Panama.
It was crossing the Andes after a landing in Mendoza when it impacted a glacier, braking in three. The main fuselage slid to the bottom of the slope. The wreckage was found in 1981 by a Chilean SAR team that was looking for a missing helicopter.

Sources:
» Austral nació hace 50 años con C-46
» Hay otro avión en la montaña (Clarín, 27-2-2000)


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This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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