The DC-6 crash near Athens in 1969 is a plane crash that occurred on Monday , December 8, 1969, in the Athens area near the town of Keratea , when Douglas DC-6B of Olympic Airways crashed into a mountain during an approach. The accident killed 90 people, making it the largest in the history of Greek aviation and DC-6.
| Flight 954 Olympic Airways | |
|---|---|
 Douglas DC-6B of Olympic Airways | |
| General information | |
| date | December 8, 1969 |
| Time | 20:45 |
| Character | Clash with the mountain |
| A place |  near Keratei , Attica ( Greece ) |
| Coordinates | approximately |
| Aircraft | |
| Model | Douglas DC-6B |
| Aircraft name | Corfu Island |
| Airline | Olympic Airways |
| Departure point | Chania |
| Destination | Ellinikon , Athens |
| Flight | 954 |
| Board number | SX-DAE |
| Date of issue | 1958 year |
| Passengers | 85 |
| Crew | five |
| Dead | 90 (all) |
Aircraft
Douglas DC-6B with serial number 45540 and serial number 1016 was released in 1958 , and in August sold to the Greek airline Olympic Airways , where it received an SX-DAE registration number and the name Corfu Island [1] .
Holocaust
The aircraft performed domestic passenger flight 954 from Chania ( Crete ) to Athens , and on board were 5 crew members and 85 passengers. In Athens, there was a severe thunderstorm when the crew began to land, while the dispatcher was informed of a rapid decline. Then, at about 8:45 p.m., 24 miles southeast of Athens, the airliner crashed into the southern slope of Mount Pan near the Sounion radio beacon and not far from the town of Keratea . Douglas completely collapsed from the impact, with all 90 people on board killed. At that time, it was the largest aviation accident in Greece, until in 2005 it was not circumvented by the disaster of the Cypriot Boeing 737 . Also in 2014 remains the largest disaster DC-6 in the history of Greek aviation [2] [3] .
Reasons
The investigation was complicated by the fact that the aircraft was not equipped with flight recorders. Based on the crew’s report on the rapid decline, airline representatives made a statement that the reduction to a safe altitude was the likely cause of the disaster [2] . The crew was probably trying to sink below the clouds when it then crashed into a mountain [3] .
Notes
- ↑ DIMIJET Online - OLYMPIC AIRWAYS (English) . Date of treatment July 20, 2014. Archived on August 30, 2006.
- ↑ 1 2 DC-6B HITS MOUNTAI N Flight International (December 18, 1969). Date of treatment July 20, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-6B SX-DAE Athens . Aviation Safety Network . Date of treatment July 20, 2014.