Talia Airways Flight 2H79 was a passenger flight which crashed into the Kyrenian mountain range on approach to Northern Cyprus on 27 February 1988. All 15 occupants on board the aircraft died in the crash and fire that followed.

Talia Airways Flight 2H79

TC-AKD, the Boeing 727-2H9-Adv, that was destroyed in the crash
Accident
Date	27 February 1988 (1988-02-27)
Summary	CFIT, aircraft destroyed
Site	Kornokipos, Cyprus Κορνόκηπος (Greek) Görneç (Turkish) 35.295°N 33.572°E / 35.295; 33.572
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 727-200
Operator	Talia Airways on behalf of JAT
Registration	TC-AKD
Flight origin	Istanbul Atatürk Airport
Destination	Ercan Airport
Occupants	15
Passengers	2
Crew	13
Fatalities	15
Survivors	0

Flight and aircraft

The Talia Airways aircraft was on a flight from Istanbul's Atatürk Airport to Ercan International Airport in Northern Cyprus. It was running a near-empty flight to collect 160 passengers to transport them back to Finland.[1] The airframe was a Boeing 727-200 which had been built in 1974. The flight was lightly loaded with thirteen crew and two passengers, all of whom died in the crash.[2] Seven of the crew were Yugoslavian, two of the stewardesses were British, and the rest of the crew were from Turkey. The two passengers were a senior manager at Talia Airlines and his wife. The aircraft belonged to a Yugoslavian airline company (JAT), and was on hire to Talia Airlines.[3]

Accident

As the flight approached Cyprus from the north, air traffic control informed the pilot to approach using the VOR at 6,000 feet (1,800 m), but the pilot descended the aircraft to 2,000 feet (610 m).[4] The descent took them below the Girne Arap mountain range, which peaks at (3,130 feet (950 m)). At this point, the aircraft was 15 miles (24 km) from the airfield at Ercan.[5] When the pilot saw the peak in front of him he tried to turn left, but the aircraft crashed into the mountain with the rear of the plane being wrecked on the northern side of the mountain, and the forward part being wrecked on the southern side.[6] The aircraft crashed at 10:20 am (local time), barely ten minutes before it was due to land.[7]

When the rescue services arrived on the scene, they noted wreckage strewn over large area and charred bodies. Sources vary on the breakdown of the occupants on board, however, it is agreed that 15 people died, all of whom were on the aircraft. No one on the ground was injured or died.[8] The bodies of the stewardesses were so badly charred that identification was very difficult, and resulted in the wrong bodies being sent to the families.[9]

A five-member team from the Turkish Transport Ministry flew to Northern Cyprus the day after the crash to investigate.[10]

Aftermath

A separate inquiry was held into the death of the two British personnel, in June 1988.[9] Much of the wreckage was left at the crash site, and still lies there in the 21st century.[11]

References