Barra do Garças air disaster
Suicide by pilot in Barra do Garças, Brazil
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The Barra do Garças air disaster was a suicide attack that occurred in Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, Brazil, on June 1, 1980, when pilot Mauro Milhomem attempted to crash a single-engine aircraft into the Hotel Presidente owned by his mother-in-law, killing six people and himself and wounding four others.
- Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, Brazil
An Embraer EMB-721C Sertanejo similar to the incident aircraft | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 June 1980 |
| Summary | Suicide by aircraft |
| Site |
|
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Embraer EMB-721 Sertanejo series single-engine aircraft |
| Operator | Taxi Aéreo Garapú |
| Registration | PT-EGI |
| Flight origin | Aragarças, Goiás, Brazil |
| Destination | Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil |
| Occupants | 5 |
| Passengers | 4 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 7 (Two on the ground) |
| Injuries | 4 |
| Survivors | 4 |
Background
Prior to the crash, Milhomem had an argument with his wife after he determined that she had been unfaithful to him. Milhomem threatened to crash a plane into the hotel owned by his wife's mother.[1]
Crash
On June 1, 1980, Milhomem, a pilot for the air taxi service Táxi Aereo Garapu, flew an Embraer EMB Sertanejo-721 single-engine airplane registered as PT-EGI with four passengers inside it to the Hotel Presidente, where his wife was residing, and attempted to hit the hotel; he failed to control the aircraft and instead hit a tree, several utility poles, and ultimately a two-story building, and finally crashed into an accounting office.[2][1]
In addition to Milhomem, three people died immediately;[1] another died while being transported to Goiânia, and two more died within the two days following the crash. Four people were injured, two seriously, and were treated in a Barra do Garças hospital.[1]
Aftermath
Initially, Aldirio Oliveira Vieira, an official of the Brazilian airport authority Infraero, said that the plane had been flying at a low altitude around the building, struck a utility pole with its right wing rupturing its gasoline tank, hit a second pole, and then crashed into an accounting office.[2] It was later determined that the pilot, Milhomem, had attempted unsuccessfully to execute a kamikaze-style attack on the hotel building which his mother-in-law owned.[1]
Milhomem's wife, Angela Milhomem, allegedly committed suicide a few days after the crash. She was shunned and harassed by the locals who accused her of being the one who caused the tragedy.[3]