List of aviation accidents (Switzerland)

The list of aviation accidents (Switzerland) gives a chronological overview of the most important air accidents, aircraft losses and near-disasters in the history of Swiss aviation, caused in Swiss airspace, by Swiss airlines or with significant Swiss participation. The list does not include any accidents involving fighter planes, small private aircraft, helicopters and balloons.

The Swiss Safety Investigation Board (SUST), until January 31, 2015 the Swiss Accident Investigation Board (SUST), investigates accidents and dangerous incidents in civil aviation in Switzerland.

Events

The Swissair Douglas DC-2 crashed in 1936

Junkers Ju 52 / 3m in the colors of Lufthansa AG

Fieseler stork with runners

HB-IRW : Accident Swissair Convair CV-240

Swissair Convair CV-440

SR330 : crashed Convair 990A

SR306 : Identical Caravelle

HB-ITB : Crashed Bristol Britannia

The Swissair Douglas DC-8-53 HB-IDD in Zurich, blown up in 1970 (1965)

VS730 : Caravelle HB-ICK crashed

SR316 : crashed Douglas DC-8-62 HB-IDE

HB-ILF: Identical Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules

HB-AHA: Identical Saab 340A in the painting of the Crossair at the time

SR551: Identical MD-81 in the Swissair livery at the time

SR111 : crashed MD-11 HB-IWF

LX-498 : Saab 340 HB-AKK crashed

LX-3597 : Crashed Avro RJ 100 HB-IXM

LX-850 : Saab 2000 HB-IZY crashed

Accident Ju 52 HB-HOT

• 27 July 1934: A on the airport Zurich launched passenger aircraft of the type Curtiss AT-32C of Swissair crashed close of Wurmlingen (district Tuttlingen) from. There were 12 dead. In this first serious accident involving the young Swissair, the first stewardess in Europe, Nelly Diener, was among the dead .

• February 28, 1936: The Douglas DC-2 with the aircraft registration HB-ITI of Swissair took off at the Dübendorf military airfield . Due to incorrect propeller setting, the pilot Walter Mittelholzer did not achieve the required take-off power. When the take-off was subsequently aborted, the aircraft left the airfield, rolled over Usterstrasse and came to a standstill in a tree garden, severely damaged. Two passengers and the radio operator were injured and the aircraft had to be written off.

• April 30, 1936: Swissair's Clark GA-43 HB-ITU crashed on the flight from Frankfurt to Basel due to a navigation error on the Rigi . There were two dead.

• 1 October 1938: crash of a Ju-52 of Lufthansa on the northern flank of Piz Cengalo in Bergell / canton of Grisons . 13 people came to life on the flight from Frankfurt to Milan. The wreck was immediately snowed in. Part of the rubble was recovered the following summer. A mailbag was found in the Cengalo glacier in 1952. In the summer of 1958, the eight-year-old son of the hut warden of the nearby Sciorahütte of the Swiss Alpine Club SAC discovered a human arm and other body parts.

• January 7, 1939: Swissair's Douglas DC-2 HB-ITA crashed in poor visibility on the flight from Zurich to Paris near Senlis near Paris. Five of the 17 inmates died.

• July 20, 1939: The Junkers Ju 86 HB-IXA / HB-IXE of Swissair crashed due to an engine failure on the flight from Vienna to Zurich near Konstanz. There were six dead.

• August 5, 1939: The Douglas DC-2 HB-ITE of Swissair crash-landed on the flight from Basel to Zurich (Dübendorf) when it landed in Dübendorf when it rolled over the runway.

• August 9, 1944: The Douglas DC-2 HB-ISI was destroyed during a bomb attack near Stuttgart.

• November 19, 1946: On the way from Tulln Air Base near Vienna to Pisa , the crew of an American Douglas DC-3 / C-53 got lost in Swiss airspace in bad weather. Because the flight altitude was too low, the machine hit the Gauli Glacier in the Bernese Oberland . The eight passengers included high-ranking military personnel from the American occupation forces in Austria and their relatives, as well as four crew members. There were no serious injuries or deaths in the accident. The machine was only discovered a few days later. In an unprecedented rescue operation, two pilots from the Swiss Air Force flew the casualties into the valley with two Fieseler Storch planes. The aircraft were makeshift equipped with skids. This was the first alpine air rescue in the world and led to the establishment of the Swiss Air Rescue in 1952 (see also plane crash on the Gauli Glacier ) .

• December 13, 1950: The Swissair Douglas DC-4 HB-ILE had an accident on the flight from Shannon to Gander while landing at Sydney Airport (NS) . All 31 inmates survived.

• December 14, 1951: The Douglas DC-4 HB-ILO of Swissair crash -lands in thick fog at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam.

• June 19, 1954: The Convair CV-240 HB-IRW Swissair had to lack of fuel near Folkestone in, United Kingdom English Channel ditch . Of the nine people on board (5 passengers , 4 crew ) , three passengers drowned because they could not swim and there were no life jackets on board (these were not yet mandatory at the time), the others survived (see also the Swissair flight accident in the English Channel ) .

• July 15, 1956: Near Shannon , Ireland , a brand new Convair CV-440 from Swissair crashed on a transfer flight to Switzerland. There were 4 dead.

• November 24, 1956: An Ilyushin Il-12 of the Czechoslovak airline ČSA crashed into an agricultural area , presumably due to engine problems, when approaching Zurich-Kloten Airport, only 500 m from the southern outskirts of Wasterkingen . All 23 passengers and crew members were killed.

• June 18, 1957: The Douglas DC-3 HB-IRK of Swissair, which took off on a training flight in Zurich-Kloten , crashed into Lake Constance on German territory near Romanshorn due to a stall . All nine people (a training pilot and eight student pilots) on board died.

• September 23, 1962: A Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation of the US American Flying Tiger Line had to make an emergency landing on the flight from Gander (Newfoundland) to Frankfurt am Main due to multiple engine failures in stormy seas 800 km off the Irish coast in the Atlantic . 48 of the 76 passengers survived the accident and were rescued by the Swiss ocean freighter MS Celerina (see also Flying Tiger flight 923 ) .

• September 4, 1963: The Caravelle III HB-ICV Swissair collapsed on the scheduled flight SR306 from Zurich to Geneva during the climb from. The reason for this was the overheating of the landing gear brakes during a long roll maneuver on the ground. When starting, the rims and damaged hydraulic lines burst. Hot metal splinters then ignite the hydraulic oil. The aircraft was unable to maneuver and crashed near Dürrenäsch . All 74 occupants and 6 crew members died in the accident. Of the passengers, 43 came from the farming village of Humlikon, which has 217 inhabitants (see also Swissair flight 306 ) .

• February 10, 1967: Swissair's Convair CV-440 Metropolitain HB-IMF collided with the Lägern ridge near Zurich during a training flight in thick fog . 4 dead.

• April 20, 1967: The Bristol Britannia 313 HB-ITB of the Swiss Globe Air was flown into the ground on approach to Nicosia , Cyprus . Of the 130 occupants, 126 were killed in this CFIT ( Controlled Flight into Terrain ) (see also the plane disaster in Nicosia ) .

• 18 February 1969: Four Fatah - assassin fired at Zurich Airport an El-Al AIRPLANE, with the co-pilot and a bomber died. The attack can be in the terrorist attacks of the PLO by the PFLP classified (see also attack in Kloten ) .

• February 21, 1970: The Convair CV-990 HB-ICD on Swissair flight 330 crashed after a bomb explosion on board near Würenlingen . All 47 people on board died. The cause of this crash was a terrorist attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) by George Habasch . The attack was actually directed against the Israeli airline El-Al . Since the flight from Munich to Tel Aviv was very late, the mail intended for this El-Al flight was diverted to the Swissair plane. A bomb with an air pressure-dependent detonator was hidden in a package (see also Swissair flight 330 and the Palestinian terrorist attacks of 1969 and 1970 against Switzerland ) .

• March 6, 1970 A Handley Page HP-137 Jetstream 1 (D-INAH) of the Bavaria Fluggesellschaft had an accident while approaching St. Moritz-Samedan Airport . The machine started in Munich-Riem had suffered a turbine damage and was therefore unable to maneuver. As a result, the plane crashed about three kilometers from the runway threshold. Both crew members and all nine passengers were killed. Bavaria founder Max Schwabe and his family were among the victims .

• September 6, 1970: Shortly after the DC-8 HB-IDD took off on its flight from Zurich to New York JFK , the machine was hijacked by terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). There were 143 passengers and 12 crew members on board. The pilots were forced to fly to Jordan and had to land at the so-called Dawson Field , a disused airfield of the British Army near the city of Zarqa . Almost at the same time, two other planes, one from BOAC and one from TWA, were hijacked by PFLP terrorists. The hijacking of a fourth plane from the Israeli airline El Al by a group led by Leila Chaled failed. The kidnappers demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages. A fifth machine of the British airline BOAC was brought under his control by a PFLP sympathizer on September 9, 1970 and used as leverage for the release of Leila Chaled, who had been arrested in London. The plane also landed on Dawson Field . All hostages were eventually released and the planes blown up. These events came to be known as part of what is known as Black September .

• January 18, 1971: During the final approach to Zurich-Kloten Airport, the Ilyushin Il-18 with the registration number LZ-BED of the Balkan Bulgarian Airlines hit the ground 700 m from the runway with the left wing, flew completely into the area and was destroyed. This CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ) killed 45 people, only one child and the captain survived.

• April 10, 1973: A Vickers Vanguard of the British Invicta International Airlines was flown during the approach into a wooded hill area in Hochwald near Basel. Of 145 people on board, 108 died in this CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ), only 37 survived (see also Invicta International Airlines flight 435 ) .

• July 17, 1973: A Convair CV-640 of SA de Transport Aérien (SATA) (HB-IMM) hit the runway violently when landing at Tromsø Airport and jumped again into the air. At the second impact - on the nose landing gear - it collapsed. All 60 occupants survived the accident. The aircraft was totaled.

• December 18, 1977: A Caravelle 10R of the SA de Transport Aérien (HB-ICK) coming from Geneva crashed into the sea four kilometers southeast of Madeira Airport during the approach . Of the 57 people on board, 36 were killed. Human error has been identified as the cause. This accident drove the airline SATA into bankruptcy. In October 2011, the wreck of the machine was found, unexpectedly less deep than had previously been assumed (see also SA-de-Transport-Aérien flight 730 ) .

• October 7, 1979: The Douglas DC-8 HB-IDE on Swissair flight SR316 shot out of the runway end in Athens , Greece in heavy rain and aquaplaning . There were 14 fatalities (see also Swissair flight 316 ) .

• October 17, 1982: A Boeing 707-366C of Egyptair (SU-APE) touched down 50 meters in front of the runway when approaching Geneva Airport , was thrown up again and came off the runway to the side. The front of the aircraft was badly damaged in the accident and the right wing broke off. The machine had to be written off as a total loss. All 182 occupants, including 172 passengers, survived the incident.

• October 14, 1987: A Lockheed L-100-20 of Zimex Aviation (HB-ILF) crashed about 40 kilometers west of Kuito , Angola after the explosion of engine number 3 . It was suspected that the machine was shot down.

• February 23, 1989: In the unexplained crash of an Aero Commander 690D "Jetprop900" of the Rheintalflug (OE-FCS) in Lake Constance near Rorschach , 11 people were killed, among them the then Austrian Minister of Social Affairs Alfred Dallinger (see also the crash of a Cessna 425 in Lake Constance ) .

• February 21, 1990: As part of a training flight, Crossair pilot Hans Lutz caused the world's first total loss of a Saab 340 when he mistakenly retracted the landing gear of the stationary machine (HB-AHA) at Zurich-Kloten Airport , whereupon it with the fuselage hit the asphalt. The three occupants of the machine were uninjured. The incident only became known after the aircraft accident on November 24, 2001 (see below), which is attributed to a massive flying incompetence on the part of the captain.

• November 14, 1990: A Douglas DC-9 from Alitalia was flown during the approach to runway 14 at Zurich-Kloten Airport near Weiach in the Stadlerberg . This CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ) killed 46 people (see also Alitalia flight AZ 404 ) .

• October 15, 1993: On a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 on Swissair flight SR551 from Munich to Zurich, a smoldering fire broke out in the cockpit a few minutes after take-off with massive smoke development. The cause was an overloaded / defective emergency power switch. The machine had to make an emergency landing in Munich. All 95 inmates were uninjured.

• January 24, 1994: While approaching Altenrhein Airport , a Cessna 425 (D-IEFW) crashed into Lake Constance. All five occupants were killed (see also the crash of a Cessna 425 in Lake Constance ) .

• September 2, 1998: Around an hour after the start of the Swissair flight SR 111 from New York to Geneva, a fire broke out behind the cockpit of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF , which resulted in heavy smoke and ultimately all instruments failing led. On the way to the emergency landing in Halifax (Nova Scotia) , Canada, the plane crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia in the Atlantic. All 229 people on board were killed. This crash was the largest and most lossy accident in the history of Swiss aviation (see also Swissair flight 111 ) .

• January 10, 2000: The Saab 340 HB-AKK of Crossair crashed on a flight from Zurich to Dresden shortly after takeoff on a field at Nassenwil . All 10 people on board died (see also Crossair flight 498 ) .

• January 13, 2000: A Short 360-300 of the Swiss airline Avisto (HB-AAM) had 5 km from the airport Brega away off the Libyan coast ditched be. 22 of the 41 inmates drowned. Life jackets were not on board. The machine came from Tripoli on behalf of the American Sirte Oil Company . The pilots had neglected to switch on the de-icing system of the engines because they had continuously discussed a non-relevant topic (see also flight accident involving a Shorts 360 at Brega ) .

• November 24, 2001: The Avro RJ 100 HB-IXM of Crossair , from Berlin-Tegel Coming was about 6 kilometers from the runway of the airport Zurich in Bassersdorf flew into the forest. Of the 33 people on board, 24 died in this CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ), five were seriously injured (see also Crossair flight 3597 ) .

• 1 July 2002: A Russian passenger aircraft of type Tupolev Tu-154 and a cargo plane of DHL of the type Boeing 757 collided in 11,000 meters above Lake Constance near Überlingen and crashed. One of the reasons for the aircraft collision was mistakes by the air traffic controller on duty at the Swiss Skyguide . There were a total of 71 deaths (see also plane collision in Überlingen ) .

• July 10, 2002: The pilots of a Saab 2000 (HB-IZY) operated by Swiss International Airlines had to switch to Berlin-Tegel Airport on the flight from Basel to Hamburg due to bad weather conditions . Due to a lack of fuel, the crew asked for priority, but decided to land on the partially closed Werneuchen airfield . After touching down, the aircraft rolled over a 1 m high embankment, which broke off all three landing gear legs. The machine came to a stop lying on its fuselage with a burning engine; total loss occurred (see also Swiss flight 850 ) .

• February 17, 2014: On a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome , the first officer hijacked a Boeing 767-300 (ET-AMF) after the captain went to the bathroom. He then flew the plane to Geneva to apply for political asylum there. While he was on hold, he threatened to crash the plane if the captain didn't stop breaking open the cockpit door. When landing, there was only fuel on board for a few flight minutes. Swiss authorities later determined that the first officer incapable of discernment was (see also Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 ) .

• August 4, 2018: When a historic Junkers Ju 52 crashed in the canton of Graubünden, 20 people were killed (see also the crash of the Junkers Ju 52 HB-HOT ) .

See also

• Lists of aircraft accidents (commercial aircraft)
• Swissair
• Crossair

literature

• Urs von Schroeder: Swissair 1931 - 2002. The rise, splendor and end of an airline. Huber, Frauenfeld 2002, ISBN 3-7193-1276-3 .

Web links

Commons : Air accidents in Switzerland  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Aviation Safety Network
• Austrian Wings website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of July 27, 1934 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
2. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of February 27, 1936 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
3. ↑ Wander.ch magazine of Swiss hiking trails, August 2014 edition
4. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of October 1, 1938 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
5. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of January 7, 1939 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
6. ↑ accident report DC-3 42-68846 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 26 of 2019.
7. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of December 13, 1950 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
8. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of December 14, 1951 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
9. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of June 19, 1954 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
10. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the crash on July 15, 1956 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
11. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of November 24, 1956 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
12. ^ Accident report DC-3 HB-IRK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 26, 2019.
13. ↑ austrianwings.info: SR306
14. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of February 10, 1967 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
15. ^ Arab Terror in Switzerland , NZZ, December 31, 2014
16. ↑ Benno Gasser: The day the terror came to Switzerland , Tages-Anzeiger , February 17, 2009.
17. ↑ Accident report HP Jetstream D-INAH , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 19, 2016.
18. ↑ The bankrupt vulture flies happily with you . In: Der Spiegel . No. 27 , 1972 ( online ).
19. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of January 18, 1971 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
20. ^ Accident report CV-640 HB-IMM , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 14, 2018.
21. ↑ Caravelle 10R HB-ICK flight accident data and report in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on March 22, 2017.
22. ↑ Swiss plane found off Madeira after 34 years. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 25, 2011, accessed December 21, 2014 . 
23. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of October 7, 1979 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
24. ^ Accident report B-707 SU-APE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 21, 2019.
25. ↑ accident report L-100-20 Hercules Aviation Safety Network , accessed on 6 April of 2019.
26. ↑ [1]
27. ↑ austrianwings.info: Flight SR 551
28. ↑ austrianwings.info: SR111
29. ^ Accident report Short 360 HB-AAM , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 11, 2018.
30. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Saab 2000 HB-IZY in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 26, 2019.
31. ^ All The Details of Ethiopian Airlines' Flight 702 Being Hijacked. February 16, 2014, accessed March 15, 2019 .