Sabena flight 548

Sabena flight 548
	An identical Boeing 707 from Sabena
Accident summary
Accident type	unexplained
place	Berg-Kampenhout , Belgium;
date	February 15, 1961
Fatalities	72
Survivors	0
Fatalities on the ground	1
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-300
operator	Sabena
Mark	OO-SJB
Departure airport	Idlewild Airport , United States;
Destination airport	Brussels-Zaventem Airport , Belgium
Passengers	61
crew	11
	Lists of aviation accidents

The Sabena flight 548 (OO-SJB) was a scheduled flight of the Belgian airline Sabena from New York's Idlewild Airport to Brussels-Zaventem Airport , on which a Boeing 707 crashed on February 15, 1961 . The plane crashed in the landing on Brussels near mountain Kampenhout into a field. All 61 passengers, the 11 crew members and a farmer on the ground were killed. Among the victims was the entire 18-man national figure skating team of the USA and a further 16 officials who were going to the World Cup in Praguearrived. It was the first crash of a Boeing 707 in regular passenger traffic.

Course of events

After an uneventful flight, the final approach on runway 20 of Brussels-Zaventem airport at an altitude of 900 feet had to be canceled after a previously landed smaller aircraft failed to leave the runway in time. In preparation for another approach, the crew first flew a few holding loops at an altitude of 1,500 feet, during which the roll angle increased so much that the transverse axis of the aircraft was finally almost vertical. Although the aircraft lay back on the horizontal plane, it lifted its nose about 11 degrees. As a result of this increase in the angle of attack, the machine lost speed, so that its nose tilted again due to a stall and tumbled to the ground near the village of Kampenhout and went up in flames.

None of the 72 occupants of the plane survived the crash. A field worker was killed by rubble on the ground. Another lost a leg from rubble. King Baudouin I and Queen Fabiola quickly made their way to the scene of the accident to express their sympathy and consolation to the relatives of the victims and those on the ground.

The cause of this crash could not be determined with certainty. The investigation report names possible material failure of the control surfaces or their activation. A failure of the elevator or its trim is likely to be the cause of the aircraft's nose being raised by 11 degrees and thus the stall.

Consequences for figure skating in the USA

All 18 athletes on the US figure skating team and their 16 relatives, coaches and officials were killed. Among the dead were the nine-time US champion Maribel Vinson-Owen and her two daughters, the reigning US women's champion Laurence Owen and the reigning US pair skating champion Maribel Owen , as well as her partner Dudley Richards ; In addition, the reigning US men's master, Bradley Lord , the reigning runner-up Gregory Kelley and fourth-placed Douglas Ramsay, who moved into the team at short notice, as well as the women's runner-up Stephanie Westerfeld , the third Rhode Lee Michelson and the ice dance champions, Diane Sherbloom and Larry Pierce . The losses were viewed as so disastrous for the sport that the World Cup in Prague was canceled.

The US President John F. Kennedy expressed his condolences in a public statement. He was personally affected by the tragedy because one of the casualties, Dudley Richards, was a family friend who had spent many summers with the Kennedys at their Hyannis Port estate .

The death of the best figure skaters and figure skating coaches in the country came as a heavy blow to the American figure skating sport. After the Second World War, the USA had been the dominant figure skating nation in individual competitions until 1960. In the men's competition, figure skaters from the USA won gold medals twelve times in a row from 1948 to 1959 and also the silver medal from 1951 to 1958, three times there were pan-American podiums. The women’s title went to US women in 1953 and from 1955 to 1960. After the resignations of David Jenkins and Carol Heiss , a new generation should now be introduced, but this was completely wiped out by the crash. As a consequence, very young athletes were sent to world championships much earlier than usual in the following years. The first medal after the accident was won by Scott Allen as one of the youngest athletes in history, with bronze at the 1964 Olympic Games. It was not until 1968, with Peggy Fleming's Olympic victory and Tim Wood's silver medal , that the USA returned to its old dominance . The crash also led to international coaches being brought to the US, including Carlo Fassi and John Nicks .

The President of the National Figure Skating Federation , F. Ritter Shumway , who had only been in office for two months when the disaster struck, launched the USFSA Memorial Fund to commemorate the victims. The foundation still exists today and supports promising young figure skaters across the country.

USFSA victim

U.S. Figure Skating Federation Members and Their Relatives:

Single runner

Pair skaters

Ice dancer

Trainers and officials

Judges and referees

Web links

Shattered dreams - Potential for greatness of 18 skaters perished en route to Prague ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Photo of the crash site ( memento from August 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Description at Aviation Safety Network

50.92099 4.526614Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 15.6 " N , 4 ° 31 ′ 35.8" E