Loftleiðir Flight 001
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 15, 1978 |
| Site | Katunayake, Sri Lanka |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8 |
| Operator | Icelandic Airlines |
| Registration | TF-FLAdisaster |
| Flight origin | Jeddah International Airport (former) |
| Destination | Colombo International Airport |
| Passengers | 258 |
| Crew | 13 (all Icelandic) |
| Fatalities | 184 |
| Injuries | 82 |
| Survivors | 82 |
The crash of Icelandic Airlines's charter flight, LL 001, occurred on November 15 1978 at the international airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka when the Douglas DC-8 crashed on approach just short of the runway. The crash took the lives 8 of 13 Icelandic crew members and 179 (mostly Indonesian) Muslim pilgrims, out of a total of 258 passengers and crew. The official report by Sri Lankan authorities gave the probable cause of the crash as being failure of the crew to conform to approach procedures. It is the worst crash in Icelandic aviation history.
The flight departed Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, en route to Surabaya, in Indonesia. It was to land at Colombo-Bandaranaike International Airport for a refueling stop and crew rotation. Thunderstorms were in the area, and windshear was an issue.
The governments of Iceland (where the plane was registered and operated), the United States (where the airliner was built), and Indonesia (home of the majority of the victims) conducted their own investigation. They contended that Sri Lanka's report of the causes of the crash was incorrect; instead, they blamed faulty landing navigation lights and poor air traffic control. This is confirmed by other pilots from several nations who landed at this airport in the months preceding the crash of TF-FLA and who also filed reports stating this information and requesting that it would be fixed, it was not.[citation needed] In 2006 a book was written about the crash and the investigation of the crash. In it, U.S., Icelandic, and Indonesian sources close to the investigation confirm the cover-up by the government of Sri Lanka. The book is titled Útkall, Leifur Eiríksson Brotlending.
See also
References and external links
- Official committee of enquiry report on crash
- [1] Book about the crash.
- Pre-crash photos from Airliners.net