Pan Am Flight 708 (PA 708) was a cargo flight that crashed on initial approach less than west-southwest of its destination airport,

Berlin Tegel Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilientha ...

in Germany, in the early morning hours of November 15, 1966. The flight was operated by a

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

(Pan Am) Boeing 727-21,

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

name ''Clipper München'', routing from

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

. All three crew members perished. The cause was undetermined because US investigators were not allowed to survey the impact site near Dallgow in what was then

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, and only half of the aircraft remains were returned by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

military authorities in East Germany to their US counterparts in former

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Flight details

Flight 708 usually landed at

Tempelhof Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport (german: Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof) was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leav ...

. But because of runway maintenance at Tempelhof, Pan Am shifted its flights to

Tegel Airport Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienth ...

. At the time of the accident, weather was poor and it was snowing. The Soviet authorities returned about 50% of the wreckage. Some major components were not returned, including the flight data and

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

s, flight control systems, navigation and communication equipment. At the time of the crash, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

did not belong to the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

(ICAO). Nations belonging to ICAO allow reciprocal visits by official observers in order to improve aviation safety.

References

External links

Aviation query
National Transportation Safety Board *
Satellite image of crash location
Google Maps {{Pan Am Aviation accidents and incidents in 1966 Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727

708 __NOTOC__ Year 708 ( DCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 708 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

1966 in East Germany Soviet Union–United States relations 1960s in West Berlin November 1966 events in Europe