Paraense Transportes Aéreos was a Brazilian airline which was founded on February 18, 1952 by Antônio Alves Affonso Ramos Junior and made its maiden flight on March 30 of the same year, using a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina.
Regular passenger and cargo flights started in 1957 using a Curtiss C-46 to fly from Belém to Rio de Janeiro via Pedro Afonso, Cristalândia and Brasília.[1] In fact, Paraense was one of the first airlines to have regular services to Brasília, the new Brazilian capital, inaugurated in 1960. In 1960 it started the route São Paulo, Cuiabá, Porto Velho, Rio Branco.
It had serious maintenance problems and after a series of accidents, particularly the one of March 14, 1970, all aircraft were grounded. On May 29, 1970, Paraense ceased operations.[2]
12 August 1965: a Curtiss C-46A-50-CU Commando registration PP-BTH en route to Cuiabá caught fire and crashed on the location of Buracão, close do Barra do Bugre, in the State of Mato Grosso. All 13 passengers and crew died.[8]
27 March 1968: Douglas C-47A PP-BTX was damaged beyond economic repair at an unknown location in Brazil.[9]
14 March 1970: a Fairchild Hiller FH-227B registration PP-BUF operating flight 903 from São Luiz to Belém-Val de Cans, while on final approach to land, crashed into Guajará Bay. Of the 40 passengers and crew, 3 survived.[10][11]
^Instituto Histórico-Cultural da Aeronáutica (2005). História Geral da Aeronáutica Brasileira: de janeiro de 1946 a janeiro de 1956 após o término da Segunda Guerra Mundial até a posse do Dr. Juscelino Kubitschek como Presidente da República. Vol. 4. Rio de Janeiro: GR3 Comunicação & Design. pp. 346–347.
^Pereira, Aldo (1987). Breve História da Aviação Comercial Brasileira (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Europa. pp. 318–319.
^Pereira, Aldo (1987). Breve História da Aviação Comercial Brasileira (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Europa. pp. 319–320.
^Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "O fim da Paraense". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928–1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 267–268. ISBN978-85-7430-760-2.
