Passengers 61 Survivors 32 Date 5 September 1965 Operator Czech Airlines Passenger count 61 | Fatalities 37 Aircraft type Ilyushin Il-18D Number of deaths 37 Survivor 32 Crew count 8 | |
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Summary Failure to climb for undetermined reason, striking obstructions and impacting the ground. Site Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Similar Aeroflot Flight 2230, Lake Central Flight 527, 1967 Nicosia Britannia, Cyprus Airways Flight 284, Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 | ||
ČSA Flight 523, operated by an Ilyushin Il-18D, was a scheduled flight from Prague Ruzyně International Airport (PRG/LKPR), Czechoslovakia to Havana via Shannon Airport and Gander International Airport, with 69 people on board, on 5 September 1967 it crashed on climb-out from Gander.
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In 2015 a memorial plague has been unveiled in Gander to honour its victims.
Crash
On 5 September 1967, ČSA Flight 523 crashed on climb-out from Gander International Airport, after being re-fuelled for the final leg of the flight. The aircraft took off from runway 14 climbing at an abnormally shallow angle. The aircraft struck a supporting wire of a mast, climbed to 40 m (130 ft), then started to dive, hitting the ground at a speed of approximately 360 km/h (220 mph; 190 kn), hit a railway embankment 4,000 ft (1,200 m) past the end of the runway, caught fire and broke into pieces. Four crewmen and 33 passengers were killed.
The aircraft was relatively new, manufactured in April 1967, having flown only 766 hours. The crew, replaced by a fresh one in Gander, consisted of a captain with over 17,000 hours experience (over 5,000 on the Il-18), familiar with the airport as he had been flying there since 1962, and a co-pilot with over 10,000 hours experience.
Investigation
The investigation of the incident started immediately; Czechoslovak and Soviet experts, including Genrikh Novozhilov from Ilyushin and the Czech World War II fighter pilot František Fajtl, also took part in it. Several possibilities were discussed but the cause of the accident was never determined.