1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash
Encyclopedia
Accident
TC-SEV, cruising at 6000 feet (1,828.8 m), left Epsom at 16:27 hrs for Mayfield, East Sussex, the holding point for Gatwick. The airport's approach controlTerminal Control Center
A terminal radar approach control is an air traffic control facility usually located within the vicinity of a large airport. Typically, the TRACON controls aircraft within a 20-50 nautical mile radius of the major airport and a number of "satellite airports" between surface and up to between and...
informed the pilot that it would be positioned by radar for an ILS
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
approach to the easterly Runway 09.
The latest actual weather conditions observed at Gatwick Airport were surface wind calm, visibility
Visibility
In meteorology, visibility is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. It is reported within surface weather observations and METAR code either in meters or statute miles, depending upon the country. Visibility affects all forms of traffic: roads, sailing...
1800 yards (1,645.9 m), mist, no low cloud, and shallow ground fog patches of only 1 foot (0.3048 m) to 5 feet (1.5 m) in depth.
The weather reported to the aircraft was "surface wind calm, visibility one decimal one nautical miles, mist, three oktas at eight hundred feet, the QFE one zero three six", which was acknowledged by the pilot.
At 16:34 hrs, the pilot was instructed to descend to a holding pattern at 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) on reaching Mayfield NDB
Non-directional beacon
A non-directional beacon is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. As the name implies, the signal transmitted does not include inherent directional information, in contrast to other navigational aids such as low frequency radio range, VHF...
and to steer a course of 280 degrees and then to continue to descend to 2000 feet (609.6 m).
Turned on to the ILS approach path, TC-SEV overshot the centre line slightly. At 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) from touchdown, the aircraft affirmed that it could continue on the ILS. At 16:38 hrs, the captain was requested a change to tower
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...
frequency and this was acknowledged. It was the last communication with the aircraft.
The aircraft was visible along the approach path centre line on the radar screen towards the runway until it disappeared about 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) from the threshold. It was assumed that the aircraft had crashed since no reply was received to radio calls to the aircraft.
The aircraft had flown into the top of trees 390 feet (118.9 m) AMSL at the edge of Jordan's Wood east of the Newdigate
Newdigate
Newdigate is a village and civil parish in Surrey lying to the east of the A24 road running between Dorking and Horsham. Neighbouring villages include Charlwood, Capel and Coldharbour...
-Rusper
Rusper
Rusper is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies north of the town of Horsham and west of Crawley. Rusper is the centre of Rusper Parish which covers most of the northern area between Horsham and Crawley. Rusper is governed by the Horsham District...
road on a heading parallel to the approach path to Runway 09 at Gatwick. The aircraft lost its wings and had its engines torn off as it descended at an angle of about 6 degrees from the horizontal 300 yards (274.3 m) through the woods, and touched the ground with its wheels. After rising again slightly the main part of the wreckage landed upside down with trees embedded in the mangled fuselage about 100 yards (91.4 m) further on, after which it caught fire. The rear part of the fuselage came to rest upside down and remained untouched by fire. Shortly after, an explosion occurred in the main fuselage.
The accident site was located 2.8 nautical miles (5.2 km) from the runway threshold and 550 feet (167.6 m) to the north of the approach path centre line.
This was the first air disaster in which Turkish Airlines was involved.
Rescue operations
Gatwick Airport alerted the local fire and rescue services, and soon it was confirmed that the aircraft had crashed in the area in which it had disappeared from the radar screen.Peter Weller, a gardener at the Newdigate Chaffold farm, and his two colleagues noticed the crash. He asked one of his friends to ride on a bike to the next police station to report the accident. He and his other friend rushed to the scene and tried to rescue the victims. Shortly after 17:00 hrs another local resident, Margaret Bailey, who was a trained nurse, and her husband Tony were at the crash site.
The resulting fire was put out by three divisions of Surrey Fire Brigade, despite thick fog.
Turkish prime minister's survival
The survivors were screaming as they tried to leave the wreckage. Turkish Premier Adnan Menderes, who was seated at a left window seat in the rear passenger cabin, survived the crash with only light scratches to his face, hanging in an upside-down position with his foot stuck in the floor. He was helped by Rıfat Kadıoğlu, who freed his foot and unbuckled his safety belt. He was then taken out of the wreckage by Kadıoğlu and Şefik Fenmen. Another survivor, Melih Esenbel, joined the group outside. Menderes sat in shock witnessing his company burn.While Tony Bailey was engaged in helping the other victims, his wife took Menderes and two other survivors by car to her farmhouse 200 yards (182.9 m) away and gave first aid. Menderes was transferred to The London Clinic
The London Clinic
The London Clinic is a private healthcare organisation based in central London. Although it maintains several consulting rooms in the traditional doctors' street of Harley Street, the main hospital site is on the corner of Devonshire Place and the Marylebone Road...
90 minutes later. He signed the London Agreement on 19 February 1959, in the hospital. He returned home on 26 February 1959, and was welcomed by his arch rival İsmet İnönü
Ismet Inönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü was a Turkish Army General, Prime Minister and the second President of Turkey. In 1938, the Republican People's Party gave him the title of "Milli Şef" .-Family and early life:...
and a huge crowd. Having survived the air crash almost uninjured, Menderes was executed by hanging on 17 September 1961, after having been ousted by the military coup in 1960.
Other casualties were treated at hospitals in East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
and Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
. The bodies of the victims were transferred to Turkey and buried on 22 February 1959.
Crash investigation
The following facts were ascertained:The investigation concluded that:
An aftercast of the probable weather conditions on the approach to Gatwick from 10 miles (16.1 km) west to the threshold of Runway 09 was surface wind calm or light westerly and the ground almost entirely covered with fog from the western limit of the area under consideration to about 2.5 miles (4 km)-3 miles (4.8 km) from the threshold of runway. The top of the fog was about 650 feet (198.1 m) to 700 feet (213.4 m) and the visibility within it varied from about 30 yards (27.4 m) to 200 yards (182.9 m) possible with few transient isolated breaks. From the eastern edge of the fog belt to Gatwick, there was mist and haze with visibility 1500 yards (1,371.6 m)-2000 yards (1,828.8 m) and little or no low cloud.
Aircraft
The aircraft, a Vickers Viscount Type 793 with four Rolls-Royce DartRolls-Royce Dart
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9-External links:*...
510 turboprop engines, was built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and completed in 1958 with serial number 429.
A United Kingdom Certificate of Airworthiness was issued on 25 July 1958, valid for one year, and a Certificate of Validation for the same period was issued by the Civil Aviation Department of the Turkish Ministry of Communications. The aircraft was registered in the name of Turkish Airlines Incorporated.
The airframe had a total flight time of 548 hours and the engines had each run approximately 615 hours since manufacture. The Turkish authorities certified after examining the appropriate records and log books in Turkey that the maintenance had been properly carried out. Examination of the translated extracts from these documents showed no record of any defect, which might have affected the accident. It was noted that no inspections of the ILS equipment in the aircraft had been carried out.
At the time of the accident, the weight of the aircraft was below the permissible maximum for landing. It was not possible to check the trim but there was no reason to believe that it was not within the prescribed limits.
Crew and passengers
The eight crew consisted of three pilots, one navigator, one mechanic and three flight attendants, of whom five lost their lives.- Münir Ozbek, Captain (38)- (in command) – killed
- Lütfi Biberoglu, Captain (35) – (second pilot) – killed
- Sabri Kazmaoglu, Captain (35) – (reserve pilot) – killed
- Gündüz Tezel, Captain (42) – (navigator) – killed
- Türkay Erkay – (steward) – seriously injured
- Gönül Uygur – (stewardess) – killed
- Yurdanur Yelkovan – (stewardess) – seriously injured
- Kemal Itık – (supernumerary mechanic) – uninjured
There were officially sixteen passengers on board, of which nine died at the accident. However, the list of names that appeared in the news included a total of seventeen passengers.
- Adnan Menderes (Prime minister) – uninjured
- Server Somuncuoğlu (Press, Media and Tourism Minister) – killed
- Muzaffer Ersü (Private secretary of Prime minister) – killed
- Şefik Fenmen (Deputy private secretary of Prime minister) – light injured
- Melih Esenbel (Secretary General of Foreign Ministry) – light injured
- İlhan Savut (Head of 2nd Department of Foreign Ministry) – killed
- Mehmet Ali Görmüş (Private secretary of Press, Media and Tourism Minister) – killed
- Sedat Görmüş (Secretary of Foreign Minister) – killed
- Güner Türkmen (Secretary of Foreign Minister) – killed
- Arif Demirer (Deputy of Afyonkarahisar Province) – injured
- Emin Kalafat (Deputy of Çanakkale Province) – injured
- Kemal Zeytinoğlu (Deputy of Eskişehir Province, former Public Works Minister) – killed
- Rıfat Kadıoğlu (Deputy of Sakarya Province) – injured
- Abdullah Parla (General Manager of Turkish Airlines) – killed
- Şerif Arzık (General Manager of Anadolu News Agency) – killed
- Burhan Tan (Photo reporter of Newspaper Akşam) – killed
- Kazım Nefes (Police bodyguard) – injured
TC-SEV replica
Turkish Airlines restored a Viscount 794D, manufacturer serial number 430, registration TC-SEL, which served as a VIPVery Important Person
A Very Important Person, or VIP is a person who is accorded special privileges due to his or her status or importance.Examples include celebrities, heads of state/heads of government, major employers, high rollers, politicians, high-level corporate officers, wealthy individuals, or any other...
aircraft for the Turkish Air Force
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It ranks 3rd in NATO in terms of fleet size behind the USAF and Royal Air Force with a current inventory of 798 aircraft .-Initial stages:...
before being withdrawn from use in 1990. After changing the call sign to TC-SEV and repainting the livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
to the original red-and-white striped pajamas design, the airframe was put on display in the Military Aviation Museum in Yeşilköy
Yesilköy
Yeşilköy is a neighborhood of the Bakırköy municipality of Istanbul, Turkey.It is located along the Marmara Sea about 11 kilometers west of Istanbul's historic city center...
, Istanbul.
Film and television
The air crash in Gatwick was the subject for a documentary television film featuring the replica Viscount 794D.A historical and romantic television series titled Hatırla Sevgili
Hatirla Sevgili
Hatırla Sevgili was a Turkish TV series broadcast on channel ATV Turkey. The series started on October 27th 2006 on the Turkish TV channel ATV, aired on Friday evenings at 22:15 hrs local time....
(Remember Darling) on the Turkish ATV
ATV Turkey
atv is a nationwide TV channel in Turkey, founded in 1993. atv is one of the most widely watched TV channels in Turkey. atv is an acronym of Actual Television.Since 2007 atv is owned by Çalık Holding.- Shows :News Programming* atv Ana Haber...
channel also depicts the events around the accident and the survival of Menderes, again featuring the replica aircraft.