1976 Zagreb mid-air collision
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 10 September 1976 |
| Summary | Mid-air collision caused by ATC error |
| Site | Near Vrbovec, Croatia, Yugoslavia 45°53′33″N 16°18′38″E / 45.89250°N 16.31056°ECoordinates: 45°53′33″N 16°18′38″E / 45.89250°N 16.31056°E |
| Total fatalities | 176 (all) |
| Total survivors | 0 |
| First aircraft | |
 G-AWZT, the aircraft involved, seen at Charles de Gaulle Airport approximately 3 months before the accident |
|
| Type | Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B |
| Operator | British Airways |
| Registration | G-AWZT |
| Flight origin |
London Heathrow Airport London, United Kingdom |
| Destination |
Yeşilköy Int'l Airport Istanbul, Turkey |
| Passengers | 54 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 63 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Second aircraft | |
 An Inex-Adria Douglas DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved |
|
| Type | Douglas DC-9-32 |
| Operator | Inex-Adria Airways |
| Registration | YU-AJR |
| Flight origin |
Split Airport Split, Yugoslavia |
| Destination |
Cologne Bonn Airport Cologne, West Germany |
| Passengers | 108 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 113 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
On 10 September 1976, British Airways Flight 476, a Hawker Siddeley Trident en route from London to Istanbul, collided mid-air near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), with Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 550, a Douglas DC-9 en route from Split, Yugoslavia, to Cologne, West Germany. The collision was the result of a procedural error on the part of Zagreb air traffic controllers.
All 176 people aboard both flights were killed, making it, at the time, the world's deadliest mid-air collision. It was, and remains, the only fatal accident to befall an aircraft operated by British Airways (not counting BA's predecessors), as well as the deadliest aviation accident in Croatia.
British Airways Flight 476 departed London Heathrow Airport for Istanbul Atatürk Airport at 08:32 UTC as flight BA476, with 54 passengers on board and a crew of 9. At the controls of the Trident 3B was an experienced captain, Dennis Tann (born 1932), who by the time of the accident had accumulated 10,781 flying hours. He was assisted by first officer Brian Helm and acting first officer Martin Flint.
Inex-Adria Flight 550 departed Split Airport at 09:48 UTC bound for Cologne Bonn Airport as flight JP550. It carried 108 passengers, mostly German holiday-makers returning home at the end of a holiday on the Dalmatian coast, and a crew of 5. At the controls sat captain Jože Krumpak (born 1925), an experienced pilot with 10,157 flying hours, and first officer Dušan Ivanuš. Inex-Adria was a charter airline based in Slovenia, the northernmost of the constituent republics making up the federation of Yugoslavia.
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