Varig Flight 820
Deployment of emergency services at the crash site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 July 1973 |
| Summary | Belly landing following in-flight fire of unknown source |
| Site | Near Orly Airport, Orly, Paris, France 48°40′56.8″N 2°16′22.1″E / 48.682444°N 2.272806°E |
| Aircraft | |
| PP-VJZ, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 1970 | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-320C |
| Operator | Varig |
| IATA flight No. | RG820 |
| ICAO flight No. | VRG820 |
| Call sign | VARIG 820 |
| Registration | PP-VJZ |
| Flight origin | Galeão International Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Stopover | Orly Airport, Paris, France |
| Destination | Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom |
| Occupants | 134 |
| Passengers | 117 |
| Crew | 17 |
| Fatalities | 123 |
| Injuries | 11 |
| Survivors | 11 |
Varig Flight 820 was a flight of the Brazilian airline Varig that departed from Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 11 July 1973, for Orly Airport, in Paris, France. The plane, a Boeing 707, registration PP-VJZ, made an emergency landing in onion fields about five kilometres (3.1 mi; 2.7 nmi) from Orly Airport, due to smoke in the cabin from a lavatory fire. The fire caused 123 deaths; there were only 11 survivors (ten crew members and one passenger). Relief Captain Antonio Fuzimoto was the pilot who handled the controls and landed the plane in the field.