Talia Airways Flight 2H79

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
Boeing 727-2H9-Adv, the aircraft destroyed in the crash
Accident
Date27 February 1988 (1988-02-27)
SummaryCFIT, aircraft destroyed
SiteKornokipos, Cyprus
Κορνόκηπος (Greek) Görneç (Turkish)
35.295°N 33.572°E / 35.295; 33.572
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 727-200
OperatorTalia Airways
RegistrationTC-AKD
Flight originIstanbul Atatürk Airport
DestinationErcan Airport
Occupants15
Passengers2
Crew13
Fatalities15
Survivors0

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
  1. "The World : Cyprus Air Crash Kills 15". Los Angeles Times. 28 February 1988. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  2. "Talia Airways". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  3. "Jet crash in Cyprus mountains kills 15". Orlando Sentinel. 28 February 1988. p. 11. ISSN 0744-6055.
  4. Derkan, Izzet (February 2016). "Similarities of aircraft crashed in Cyprus between years in[sic] 1973-1988". International Journal of Science Research and Management. 3 (2): 34. ISSN 2349-5197.
  5. "Jetliner hits peak on Cyprus". Miami Herald. 28 February 1988. p. 8. ISSN 0744-6055.
  6. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727-2H9 TC-AKD Girne Arap". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  7. "Plane crash in Cyprus kills all 15 on board". The New York Times. 28 February 1988. p. 10. ISSN 0362-4331.
  8. "Black boxes recovered from Cyprus aircrash". The Times (63, 012). 29 February 1988. p. 7. ISSN 0140-0460.
  9. "Mistake over bodies". The Times (63095). 4 June 1988. p. 2. ISSN 0140-0460.
  10. Efty, Alex (28 February 1988). "Plane Crashes Into Mountains, 15 Dead". AP NEWS. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  11. Lloyd, Chris (25 October 2020). "Seeking the stewardess who died in a plane crash on Cyprus 30 years ago". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
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