Olympic Airways Flight 411

The Boeing 747 was the first "jumbo jet". It was a prestige aircraft in the 1970's and purchased by many airlines as a fleet flagship.[1] Olympic Airways was the flag carrier for Greece and had purchased 747's for some of its prime routes, including a non-stop between Athens and New York.[2] It received its first 747, registered as SX-OAA in June, 1973.[3] The large passenger capacity meant lower per-seat costs to the airlines that operated it.[1] For Olympic, this meant that large numbers of American tourists could be accommodated.[2] Ellinikon in the Athens suburb of Elliniko was the international airport for the capital city and the primary entry and departure point for Americans visiting Greece.

The Captain of the incident flight, Sifis Migadis, had 32 years of experience with Olympic[4] The First Officer Kostas Fikardos was also considered experienced and was a close friend of Migadis.[5]

An Olympic Airways 747-200 similar to the one involved in the incident showing the aircraft livery in use at the time.

SX-OAA, named "Olympic Zeus" was the first -200 series 747 that Olympic purchased and fitted in a two-class configuration with executive class seating on the upper deck and nose section of the lower deck and economy class for the remainder of the lower deck.[6]

Just before takeoff, the crew heard an explosion.[2] Engine #3 had exploded and the flight was at a point where immediately aborting the takeoff was extremely difficult.[7] the plane climbed sluggishly to an altitude of just 209 metres (686 ft) as it approached the 200 metres (660 ft) tall Pani hill in Alimos.[2] As it passed over Kallithea, Nea Smyrni and Syggrou the altitude decreased to only 50 metres (160 ft).[5] People watching from the ground saw the huge belly of the plane passing over.[4] The larger obstacle of Mount Aigaleo at 469 metres (1,539 ft) was of great concern because the low airspeed of 257.5 kilometres per hour (160.0 mph) and minimal altitude did not leave the flight crew enough room to execute a normal banked turn.[5] The plane was flying at a speed slightly higher than that of the limit for a stall which made a simple climb impossible. At 2:05 p.m, a light breeze gave the plane some height, which made it possible for Migadis to make a gradual turn to avoid crashing into the slopes.[8] The aircraft returned to Ellinikon International Airport safely.