Olympic Airways Flight 954 was a

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

aircraft that crashed into a mountain near

Keratea Keratea ( el, Κερατέα) is a town in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lavreotiki, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 129.864 km2. It is part of ...

(approx. coordinates 37°48' N, 23°57' E),

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, on December 8th, 1969. All 85 passengers and 5 crew on board died in the crash.

The crash

The flight was a domestic scheduled passenger service from

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

on the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. While on approach to Athens and with its undercarriage retracted, the aircraft struck Mount Paneio at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet. The weather at the time of the crash was characterized by rain and high winds. The crash of Flight 954 was the deadliest aviation accident in Greek history at the time it took place, a record it maintained until the crash of

Helios Airways Flight 522 Helios Airways Flight 522 was a scheduled passenger flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Prague, Czech Republic, with a stopover in Athens, Greece. Shortly after take-off on 14 August 2005, air traffic control (ATC) lost contact with the aircraf ...

nearly thirty-six years later. It is still the deadliest aviation accident involving a Douglas DC-6., and deadliest crash in the history of Olympic Airways.

Cause

It was ruled that the flight crew had deviated from the proper track and descended below the

minimum safe altitude In aviation (particularly in air navigation), lowest safe altitude (LSALT) is an altitude that is at least 500 feet above any obstacle or terrain within a defined safety buffer region around a particular route that a pilot might fly. The safety bu ...

while making an ILS approach.

References

External links

* {{coord, 37, 48, N, 23, 58, E, type:city_source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title 1969 in Greece Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather Aviation accidents and incidents in Greece Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-6 Olympic Airlines accidents and incidents December 1969 events in Europe