1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash
A Turkish Airlines Viscount 700 similar to the accident aircraft
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 February 1959 |
| Summary | CFIT due to weather conditions |
| Site | Jordan's Wood, Newdigate, Surrey, England 51°08′25″N 000°16′27″W / 51.14028°N 0.27417°W |
| Passengers | 16 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 14 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 9 |
| Survivors | 10 |
| Aircraft type | Vickers Viscount 793 |
| Operator | Turkish Airlines |
| Registration | TC-SEV |
| Flight origin | Esenboğa International Airport Ankara, Turkey |
| Stopover | Atatürk International Airport Istanbul, Turkey |
| Last stopover | Leonardo da Vinci Airport Rome, Italy |
| Destination | London Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom (diverted to London Gatwick Airport due to fog at Heathrow) |
The 1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash occurred on 17 February 1959, near London Gatwick Airport to a Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount Type 793 (registration TC-SEV) on an international charter flight from Esenboğa International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, to London Heathrow Airport United Kingdom, carrying the Turkish prime minister and a party of government officials. The Viscount crashed in a wood 3 miles (4.8 km) from the threshold of Gatwick runway during its final approach to land in extensive fog. Five of the eight crew and nine of the 16 passengers died in the crash. The prime minister was among the ten survivors.
Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, accompanied by a Turkish delegation, was on his way to the British capital to sign the London Agreement on the Cyprus issue with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Greek Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, which gave the three sides the right to intervene in Cyprus in case peace was broken by any of the parties.
The special flight departed from Ankara Esenboğa International Airport bound for London Heathrow Airport via Istanbul Atatürk International Airport (IATA: IST, ICAO: LTBA) and Rome Ciampino Airport (IATA: CIA, ICAO: LIRA). The aircraft left its last stopover, Rome, at 13:02 hrs and called London Airways at 15:56 hrs over Abbeville, just before leaving French airspace. TC-SEV was cleared by air traffic control to the Epsom Radio Range station, the holding fix for London Airport. Over Epsom range at 16:21 hrs, the Turkish Airlines captain was instructed by the London Airport Commandant to divert to Gatwick due to poor visibility at Heathrow.
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