Aero Flight 217
The wreck of OH-LCA short of the runway.
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 8, 1963 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Jomala, Åland Islands, Finland |
| Passengers | 22 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 22 |
| Survivors | 3 |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3 |
| Operator | Aero O/Y |
| Registration | OH-LCA |
| Flight origin | Helsinki Airport |
| Stopover | Turku Airport |
| Destination | Mariehamn Airport |
Aero Flight 217 (AY217) was a domestic passenger flight from Helsinki to Mariehamn in the autonomous territory of the Åland Islands, operated by the Finnish flag carrier Aero O/Y (since 1968 also officially known as Finnair). On 8 November 1963, the aircraft serving the flight crashed in poor visibility while attempting to land on a non-precision approach at Mariehamn Airport in the municipality of Jomala. Resulting in the death of 22 people out of 25 on board, the crash remains the second most deadly aviation accident in Finland.
Flight 217, operated with a Douglas DC-3, was scheduled to take off at 14:50 GMT and travel along the Helsinki-Turku-Mariehamn route from Helsinki Airport. The crew consisted of pilot Pekka Marttinen, co-pilot Pekka Yli-Niemi and flight attendant Marianne Kullberg. The flight departed later than scheduled, at 15:09 GMT. Everything proceeded as planned as far as the stopover at Turku Airport. The aircraft departed from Turku with 21 passengers, three crew members, one deadheading person, 789 kilograms of cargo and 1100 litres of fuel. At this time, the weather was foggy and near Aero O/Y's planning minimal limit that would have cancelled the flight. In Mariehamn, horizontal visibility was slightly worse and thus partially under these limits. According to the flight plan, in Sweden was reserved as a back-up airport for Flight 217.
Nothing unusual was reported via radio during the flight from Turku to Mariehamn, which was flown at 2000 feet. The aircraft was nearing the non-directional beacon "MAR" from northwest so that it was aligned for the final approach already in Godby. It flew past the non-directional beacon at 16:57-16:58 GMT and was prepared to land on runway 20. However, the aircraft struck trees 1480 meters before the runway and 50 meters before the final approach beacon ("Locator S"). The airplane had been perfectly aligned for the runway at the time of the contact. The plane hit the ground after rotating leftwards on its longitudinal axis, landing upside down and immediately catching fire.
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