Turkish Airlines Flight 345 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by a

Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a twin-engined, short-range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokk ...

from Izmir Cumaovası Airport to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport that crashed into the Sea of Marmara 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

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 An airfield traffic pattern is a standard path followed by aircraft when taking off or landing while maintaining visual contact with the airfield. At an airport, the pattern (or circuit) is a standard path for coordinating air traffic. It di ...

. 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 refer ...

trawling fishermen off the Avcılar- Florya 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 The Year 345 ( CCCXLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Amantius and Albinus (or, less frequently, year 1098 ''Ab urbe ...

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