the Carnation Revolution of 1974. In a second general election held in October that year, the Democratic Alliance increased its majority. The Alliance received 47.2 percent of the popular vote and 134 seats, 82 of them from the PSD. Sá Carneiro's triumph appeared to augur well for the presidential election two months later, in which Sá Carneiro was supporting António Soares Carneiro (no relation). Death His victory was short-lived, however. On 4 December 1980, while on his way to a presidential election rally in Porto, the Cessna 421 he was on crashed into a building in Camarate, Loures, soon after takeoff from Lisbon Airport. Eyewitnesses claimed they saw pieces falling from the plane just moments after it took off. Rumours have continued to fuel conspiracy theories that the crash was in fact an assassination, but no firm evidence has come to light. There were even different theories as to who might have been the target of such an assassination, as Francisco de Sá Carneiro was travelling with the Defence Minister, Adelino Amaro da Costa, who had said he had documents relating to the October surprise conspiracy theory and was planning on taking them to the United Nations General Assembly. Dependent to a considerable extent on Sá Carneiro's personal popularity, the Democratic Alliance was unable to maintain its momentum in the wake of his death. Faced with a national crisis, the public rallied behind the incumbent president, António Ramalho Eanes, who easily defeated the Alliance candidate in the presidential election a few days later. The airport where Sá Carneiro was heading has been named after him as Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport, despite objections that it would be in bad taste to name an airport after someone who died in a plane crash. Family He was married to Isabel Maria Ferreira Nunes de Matos (b. Porto, Miragaia, 1936), and had five children: Francisco Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, unmarried and without issue Isabel Maria Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, unmarried and without issue Maria Teresa Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, and had two sons: Francisco de Sá Carneiro e Nogueira (b. Porto, Santo Ildefonso, 1986) Lourenço de Sá Carneiro e Nogueira (b. Porto, Santo Ildefonso, 1988) José Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro (b. Porto, Cedofeita, 1963), married in Mealhada, Luso, 1991 Isabel Maria Guedes de Macedo Girão (b. Porto, Ramalde, 1965), and had an only daughter: Inês