ČSA Flight 523

ČSA Flight 523
	A ČSA Il-18V similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	5 September 1967
Summary	Failure to climb for undetermined reason, striking obstructions and impacting the ground.
Site	Gander Airport, Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada ; 48°56′32.45″N 54°32′2.03″W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Ilyushin Il-18D
Operator	CSA Ceskoslovenské Aerolinie
Registration	OK-WAI
Flight origin	Praha-Ruzyne International Airport (PRG/LKPR), Czechoslovakia
1st stopover	Shannon Airport (SNN/EINN), Ireland
Last stopover	Gander Airport (YQX/CYQX), Gander, Canada
Destination	Havana-José Martí International Airport (HAV/MUHA), Cuba
Occupants	69
Passengers	61
Crew	8
Fatalities	35
Survivors	34

ČSA Flight 523, operated by an Ilyushin Il-18D, was a scheduled flight from Prague Ruzyně International Airport (PRG/LKPR), Czechoslovakia to Havana via Shannon Airport and Gander International Airport, with 69 people on board, on 5 September 1967 it crashed on climb-out from Gander.

In 2015 a memorial plaque was unveiled in Gander to honour its victims.[1]

Crash

On 5 September 1967, ČSA Flight 523 crashed on climb-out from Gander International Airport, after being re-fuelled for the final leg of the flight.[2] The aircraft took off from runway 14 climbing at an abnormally shallow angle. The aircraft struck a supporting wire of a mast,[2] climbed to 40 m (130 ft), then started to dive, hitting the ground at a speed of approximately 360 km/h (220 mph; 190 kn), hit a railway embankment 4,000 ft (1,200 m) past the end of the runway, caught fire and broke into pieces.[3] Four crewmen and 33 passengers were killed.[2]

The aircraft was relatively new, manufactured in April 1967, having flown only 766 hours. The crew, replaced by a fresh one in Gander, consisted of a captain with over 17,000 hours experience (over 5,000 on the Il-18), familiar with the airport as he had been flying there since 1962, and a co-pilot with over 10,000 hours experience.[3]

Investigation

The investigation of the incident started immediately; Czechoslovak and Soviet experts, including Genrikh Novozhilov from Ilyushin and the Czech World War II fighter pilot František Fajtl, also took part in it. Several possibilities were discussed but the cause of the accident was never determined.[3]

References

Cook, Julia (2015-06-29). "1967 Czech airline crash in Gander remembered with new monument". CBC News. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
Accident description for OK-WAI at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 23 September 2013.
"Seriál: Letadlo ČSA havarovalo půl minuty po vzletu. Dodnes se neví proč" [Series: A CSA plane crashed half a minute after takeoff. It is still unknown why]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2020-10-07.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Cook, Julia (2015-06-29). "1967 Czech airline crash in Gander remembered with new monument". CBC News. Retrieved 2020-10-07.

[ASN-2] Accident description for OK-WAI at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 23 September 2013.

[technet-3] "Seriál: Letadlo ČSA havarovalo půl minuty po vzletu. Dodnes se neví proč" [Series: A CSA plane crashed half a minute after takeoff. It is still unknown why]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2020-10-07.