Turkish Airlines Flight 452 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by a Boeing 727-2F2 of Turkish Airlines that crashed near Isparta on 19 September 1976 while en route from Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA) to Antalya Airport (AYT/LTAI), killing all 144 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The crash is Turkey's deadliest aviation accident.

Turkish Airlines Flight 452

A Turkish Airlines Boeing 727, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date	19 September 1976
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site	Karatepe, Isparta, Turkey 37.89165°N 30.50114°E / 37.89165; 30.50114
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 727-200
Aircraft name	Antalya
Operator	Turkish Airlines
Registration	TC-JBH
Flight origin	Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA)
Destination	Antalya Airport (AYT/LTAI)
Occupants	155
Passengers	144
Crew	11
Fatalities	155
Survivors	0

The aircraft arrived from Italy at Istanbul and took off again at 22:45 local time. The pilots started to descend into Antalya at 23:11 with the captain in the passenger cabin. The plane crashed at around 23:20 into the Karatepe Hill near Isparta, about 100 kilometres (62 mi; 54 nmi) from the destination, after the first officer mistakingly believed that the city lights of Isparta were from the runway of Antalya Airport, despite warnings from the controller at Antalya.

Most passengers were heading to Antalya for a vacation and were not Turkish. The bodies of 18 Italian victims were buried at a cemetery near Isparta instead of being sent to Italy. A member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey also died in the crash.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 727-2F2[lower-alpha 1] registered as TC-JBH with serial number 20982/1087. The aircraft made its first flight on 11 November 1974.[1] The plane was delivered to the airline on 1 December.[2] TC-JBH was named Antalya, the destination of the flight.[3]

The captain was Celâl Topçuoğlu and the first officer was Sacit Soğangöz. Also on board were flight engineer Ahmet Bursalı and technician Muhittin Güçlü. The four cabin crew members were Feyzan Güngör, Neriman Düzelli, Kâmuran Küçükkoşum and Canan Dinç. Three Turkish Airlines employees, due to fly a Douglas DC-9 from Antalya to Istanbul the next morning, were also deadheading on the flight.[4]

Accident

LTBA

LTAI

Crash site

Location of departure (LTBA) and destination (LTAI) airports, and the crash site

The plane arrived at Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA) from Italy at 21:30 local time with 68 passengers. 78 more passengers boarded at Istanbul and the plane took off at 22:45 with a delay of 35 minutes.[4]

At 23:11, the pilots reported that the city lights of the city were in his sight, while the plane was around 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of it.[5] 30 minutes after takeoff, they reported that they were approaching Antalya Airport and that they would descend from 4,400 metres (14,400 ft) to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).[4] After being told by the pilots that they had the runway in sight, the controller at Antalya notified them that he couldn't see them. First officer Soğangöz responded: "should I believe you, or my eyes?" Captain Topçuoğlu, who was in the passenger cabin, came back to the cockpit after realizing that something was wrong and gave full throttle.[6]

At 23:20, a loud explosion was heard from the Karatepe Hill near Isparta.[4] At the time of the accident, a horror movie was being aired on television, causing some to leave their homes after the explosion.[7]

Wreckage and recovery

External video
Airliner Crashes in Turkey Short of its Destination The scene of the accident two days after the crash

The aircraft was scattered in an area of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). After hearing the explosion, nearby residents climbed for two hours to the top of the hill. Military personnel was dispatched to the area and were already on the scene. They found the parts on fire and extinguished them by throwing sand on top. One of the wings was found on top of the hill, while the engines were located at the bottom. A generator was used to light up the site during the nights. To prevent looting of items, officials closed the area for civilians, but thousands of people went up the hill and were able to see the parts and bodies after midnight. The first flight recorder was found the day after the accident.[7] The flight data recorder was found on 22 September.[8] In 2009, parts of the plane could be found at the crash site.[6]

Victims

A total of 155 people, 144 passengers and 11 Turkish Airlines employees, were killed in the accident. 125 passengers were non-Turkish.[4] Most passengers on the flight were Italian travelers travelling to Antalya for tourism purposes. Among the passengers was Kemal Ziya Öztürk [tr], an independent member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from the Aydın district. According to eyewitnesses, the bodies of victims were badly burned, making identification impossible.[7] While most bodies of Italian victims were sent to Italy, 18 of the Italian passengers were buried at a local cemetery.[9] As of September 2022^[update], the crash is the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Turkey.[1]

Investigation

The possibility of the plane crashing due to a lightning strike was eliminated the next day after looking at the weather report.[7] Investigators listened to the cockpit voice recorder on 22 September. The transcript of these was kept secret as it could determine the cause.[8] The experts who listened to the recordings announced that the pilots were trying to fly visually, instead of using instrumental flight as it was required at night and that they mistakenly thought that the dark area ahead of them was the Mediterranean Sea, while it actually was the Western Taurus Mountains.[10] This led them to believe that the city lights of Isparta were from Antalya.[5] It was further found that the system of Antalya Airport informing the pilots of their distance to the airport broke three days before the crash.[11]

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network

На других языках

[de] Turkish-Airlines-Flug 452

[it] Volo Turkish Airlines 452

[ru] Катастрофа Boeing 727 в Ыспарте