Turkish Airlines Flight 345 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by a Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship from Izmir Cumaovası Airport to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport that crashed into the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the B ...

on 30 January 1975 during approach. It was the second worst accident involving a Fokker F28 and third deadliest aviation accident in Turkey at that time.

Background

The aircraft operating Flight 345 was a Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship with manufacturer serial number 11058, and made its first flight in 1972. Since then, it had accumulated 3713 flying hours in 5062 flight cycles. Flight 345 took off from Izmir Cumaovası Airport at around 18:00 EET (20:00 UTC) for a 40-minute flight to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport with 38 passengers and 4 crew members on board.

Accident

At 18:39, the aircraft touched down on the runway at Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport, but an electrical power failure at the airport at that very moment forced the crew to initiate a

missed approach Missed approach is a procedure followed by a pilot when an instrument approach cannot be completed to a full-stop landing. The instructions for the missed approach may be assigned by air traffic control (ATC) prior to the clearance for the approac ...

. Twenty-two seconds after the lights went off, the emergency generator jumped in and restored the runway lights. The pilot elected to remain VFR under an altitude of . At 18:43, the crew asked for permission to land while positioning for another approach. However, because another aircraft was about to take off, air traffic control ordered the crew of Flight 345 to fly an extended downwind leg. When, at 18:53, air traffic control attempted to establish contact with Flight 345, it received no answer. It was determined that the aircraft crashed into the Sea of Marmara. However, the wreckage was not located until several years later.

Recovery

The relatives of the victims continuously demanded, without success, the recovery of the wreckage and the bodies of the victims from the sea floor. A by portion from the rear fuselage with five window frames was recovered on March 17, 2009, by

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are referre ...

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different spec ...

fishermen off the Avcılar-

Florya Florya is a neighborhood ( tr, mahalle) belonging to the Bakırköy district of the greater Istanbul, Turkey. It is located along Marmara Sea, and borders to the northeast the neighborhood of Yeşilköy, to the northwest that of Küçükçekmece. I ...

coast. The wreckage was handed over to Turkish Airlines after inspection by Stuart Kline, an American historian of aviation living in Turkey.

References

{{Turkish Airlines Aviation accidents and incidents in 1975 Aviation accidents and incidents in Turkey 1975 in Turkey 345 Accidents and incidents involving the Fokker F28 Airliner accidents and incidents with an unknown cause 1970s in Istanbul Istanbul Atatürk Airport January 1975 events in Europe