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ČSA Flight 540
1975 aviation accident From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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ČSA Flight 540 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Prague, Czechoslovakia to Tehran, Iran via Damascus, Syria and Baghdad, Iraq. On 20 August 1975, the flight, operated by an Ilyushin Il-62, crashed 17 km (11 mi) from Damascus International Airport while descending at night in clear weather, breaking up and catching fire on impact.[1] 126 of the 128 passengers and crew died in the accident, making it Syria's worst air disaster and the worst air disaster for the airline.[2] Following the crash, the Czechoslovak government sent their condolences to the victims and Damascus.[3]
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Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-62 with registration OK-DBF. It was produced in 1973 and delivered to the airline in the same year. The aircraft was named Brno Trade Fair.[1]
At the time of the accident, the flight captain was Ján Gajdoš (54) with 19,000 flight hours (circa 3000 on Il-62), who led the crew consisting of co-pilot Stanislav Žižka (50) with 15,000 flight hours (circa 2500 on Il-62), navigator František Aulík (43), and flight engineers Karel Hasman (48) and Vladimír Hejduk, who was just off duty. Purser Miroslav Peták was joined by a team of five cabin crew. In total, there were 117 passengers and 11 crew on board.[4]
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Accident
The plane crashed in an area of high desert approximately 17 km from Damascus Airport.[a]
Initially there were 3 survivors, but one of them, a boy died on the way to the hospital. That brought the death toll to 126 with 2 survivors.[2]
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References
Notes
External links
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