Varig Flight 820 Varig Flight 820 Varig Flight 820 was a flight of the Brazilian airline Varig that departed from Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 11, 1973, for Orly Airport, in Paris, France. The plane, a Boeing 707 registration PP-VJZ, made an emergency landing on onion fields about four kilometers from Orly Airport, due to smoke in the cabin from a fire in one of the toilets. The fire caused 123 deaths; there were only 11 survivors (ten crew members and one passenger). Flight 820's problems began when a fire started in a rear lavatory. Crew members moved
American Flyers Airline to operate transatlantic flights, from the mainland US to London Gatwick and Manchester in the United Kingdom, and to Frankfurt, Germany. Around this time the airline moved its operations to Middletown, Pennsylvania. By 1970, American Flyers was operating just two leased Douglas DC-8 Series 63CF having sold the Electras and later the Boeing 727s. AFA was taken over by Universal Airlines on May 25, 1971, which in turn was absorbed by Saturn Airways the next year. Its DC-8s went to Flying Tiger Line. AFA was founded by Reed Pigman who was an early aviation pioneer who was instrumental in developing