Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871 was a scheduled flight from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in Denmark to the Egyptian capital of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, with several intermediate stops, operated by

Scandinavian Airlines System Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

. On 19 January 1960, the

Sud Aviation Caravelle The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation. It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s and made its maiden flight on 27 May 1955. It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...

flying the service crashed while operating a leg between Yeşilköy Airport and Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey. The flight was on approach but crashed six

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s from the airport, killing all 42 occupants on board. This was the first fatal crash of a Caravelle.

Accident

Flight 871 took off from

Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup ( da, Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup, ; ) is an international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, Zealand, the Øresund Region, and southern Sweden including Scania. It is the second largest airport in the Nordic coun ...

at 09:44 UTC. The aircraft had already stopped at Düsseldorf in Germany and Vienna in Austria before arriving at Istanbul at 17:20 UTC, where a fresh crew boarded the aircraft to operate the remaining portion of the flight. It departed

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

's Yeşilköy Airport at 18:00 UTC on a flight to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

's Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey. There were 35 passengers and 7 crew on board the aircraft. The flight was uneventful until the crew started the approach to the airport. At 18:41 UTC the crew reported to air traffic control that the aircraft was in a descent from FL135 (approximately 13,500 feet/4,115 m) to FL120 (approximately 12,000 feet/3,658 m). At 18:45 UTC the crew reported inbound at an altitude of 6500 feet (1,981 m) still in a descent. At 18:47 UTC the aircraft struck the ground at an elevation of 3500 feet (1,067 m), between the Ankara

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

and the airport. The accident killed all 42 passengers and crew on board.

Cause

"The accident occurred because of an unintentional descent below the authorized minimum flight altitude during final approach to Esenboga Airport. The reason for this descent could not be ascertained due to lack of conclusive evidence."

References

External Links

aviation-safety.net accident synopsis
{{coord missing, Turkey 1960 in Turkey Accidents and incidents involving the Sud Aviation Caravelle Aviation accidents and incidents in 1960 Aviation accidents and incidents in Turkey

871 __NOTOC__ Year 871 ( DCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * The English retreat onto the Berkshire Downs. The Great Heathen Army, led by the ...

January 1960 events in Europe 1960 disasters in Turkey