Swissair flight 316
| Swissair flight 316 | |
|---|---|
 The accident machine in 1977 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Agreement from the runway |
| place |
Athens , Greece
|
| date | October 7, 1979 |
| Fatalities | 14th |
| Survivors | 140 |
| Injured | 10 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Douglas DC-8-62
|
| operator |
 Swissair
|
| Mark |
HB-IDE
|
| Departure airport |
Geneva Airport , Switzerland
|
| 1. Stopover |
Athens-Ellinikon Airport , Greece
|
| 2. Stopover |
Bombay Airport , India
|
| Destination airport |
Beijing Airport , People's Republic of China
|
| Passengers | 142 |
| crew | 12 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The Swissair flight 316 (flight number: SR316 ) was a scheduled flight of Swissair from Geneva to Beijing with stops in Athens and Bombay . On October 7, 1979 the flight was carried out with a Douglas DC-8-62 . During the approach to Athens-Ellinikon airport , the aircraft rolled over the end of the runway due to a slippery runway surface and several pilot errors and caught fire, killing 14 of the 154 occupants. The accident attracted particular attention because the pilots responsible were later sentenced to prison terms for their negligence, but also because there was radioactive material in the burning machine.
plane
The machine was a Douglas DC-8-62 with the serial number 45919. It was the 312nd Douglas DC-8 from ongoing production, the machine was assembled in 1967 at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Long Beach , California . The machine was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT3D engines. Since its delivery in November 1967, Swissair was the only operator of the machine. The DC-8 was given the baptismal name Genève after its delivery , and in January 1971 it was renamed Uri .
crew
In the cockpit, there was a three-person crew on board, consisting of the master, first officer and flight engineer. The captain of the machine was Fritz Schmutz and the first officer was Martin Deuringer.
Flight route and passengers
The plane had taken off from Geneva airport ; a flight to Beijing via Athens and Bombay was to be carried out with her . There were about 100 doctors among the passengers who wanted to attend a convention in Beijing.
A prominent passenger of the machine who later survived the accident was the retired political scientist Hans Morgenthau , who held a chair in international relations at the University of Chicago .
the accident
Up until the approach to Athens-Ellinikon airport , the flight went without any special incidents. The machine touched down on runway 15L at a fairly high speed of 146 knots (approx. 270 km / h). While the machine rolled over the runway, its speed decreased, but it rolled over the end of the runway, broke through the airport fence, and crashed onto a road four meters below. The left wing and stern were torn off and a fire broke out.
Most of the occupants were able to save themselves from the burning machine, but 14 passengers died in the accident. British, French and German citizens were among the dead.
freight
After the accident, it became known that radioactive material had been found on board the machine, including 450 kilograms of radioactive isotopes and a small amount of plutonium , which was initially thought to have disappeared after the accident, but was soon found. On the basis of this information, the firefighters and rescue teams involved in the rescue operation were examined for radiation exposure on official instructions.
On board the machine was also a cargo of industrial diamonds worth 2 million US dollars, which were to be flown to Bombay. The majority of the uncut diamonds were recovered by the police, but they were destroyed by the extreme heat of the fire.
Cause of accident
The flight accident investigators came to the conclusion that the overshooting of the runway was due to several pilot errors. For example, Captain Fritz Schmutz put the machine on the runway too late. The braking effect was reduced by aquaplaning , and the pilots would have braked the machine insufficiently and made no use of the thrust reverser , which could have brought the machine to a stop in time.
Legal processing
Two days after the accident, the Greek authorities brought charges against Captain Fritz Schmutz and charged him with negligent homicide. As part of a court case in 1983, Captain Schmutz and First Officer Martin Deuringer were sentenced to prison terms of five years and two months and two years and six months, respectively, for multiple negligent homicide, multiple negligent bodily harm and endangering air traffic. The convicts were released on bail while on appeal. A year after the verdict, a court ruled that Schmutz and Deuringer could avert imprisonment by paying fines. Although the two pilots remained employed by Swissair, they were no longer used on any flights.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Accident Report DC-8-62, HB-IDE Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 22, 2019.
- ↑ Operating history DC-8-62, HB-IDE Planespotters, accessed on March 22, 2019.
- ↑ a b Plane crash tolls mount . Daytona Beach, Florida: Daytona Beach Morning Journal (AP). October 9, 1979, p. 8B.
- ↑ a b Plutonium missing . St. Joseph, Missouri: St. Joseph Gazette (UPI). October 9, 1979, p. 2A.
- ↑ 14 the when plane overshoots runway . Spencer, Iowa: The Daily Reporter (UPI). October 8, 1979, p. 5.
- ↑ Recover plutonium from wrecked plane . Warsaw, Indiana: Times-Union (UPI). October 9, 1979, p. 1.
- ↑ Swissair carried isotopes . Bangor, Maine: Bangor Daily News (UPI). 9 October 1979, p. 8.
- ↑ Hope, Keirin. Swissair pilot charged in Athens crash . St. Petersburg, Florida: St. Petersburg Times (UPI). October 10, 1979, p. 14A.
- ↑ Greek court sentences pilots for fatal crash . Ottawa, Ontario: Ottawa Citizen (Reuters). April 27, 1983, p. 6.
- ↑ Swiss pilots freed . Montreal, Quebec: The Montreal Gazette (AP). April 28, 1983, p. A10.
- ↑ Pilots' sentences reduced . Nashua, New Hampshire: Nashua Telegraph (AP). September 26, 1984, p. 3.
Coordinates: 37 ° 52 ′ 26 " N , 23 ° 44 ′ 27" E