Nicosia

The airplane was completing an official government flight from Algiers to Tehran with an intermediate stop in Nicosia, carrying four crew members, one journalist and nine members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Algeria en route to Tehran to take part to peace talks about the Iran-Iraq war. While cruising at an altitude of 37'000 feet over Iraq, the crew was instructed by ATC to leave the Iraqi airspace and to divert to Ankara. Few minutes later, the airplane was shot down by the pilot of an Iraqi MiG-25PD. Out of control, the airplane entered a dive and crashed in a mountainous terrain located near Qatur. The aircraft was destroyed and all 14 occupants were killed, among them Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, Minister of Foreign Affair of the Republic of Algeria.

Greek troops were deployed in Cyprus following the Turkish invasion. While on a night approach to Nicosia Airport under callsign 'Niki 4', the airplane was mistakenly shot down by Greek soldiers based by the airport and crashed in flames 3 km short of runway. A passenger was injured while 31 other occupants were killed.

Involved in the invasion of the Cyprus Island, the twin engine airplane was shot down by Greek fire while approaching Nicosia. The airplane crashed and was destroyed. Apparently, all occupants were killed but the exact number remains unknown.

After touchdown on runway 14 at Nicosia Airport, the airplane deviated to the right then veered off runway and came to rest in flames about 150 metes from the runway end. All 70 occupants escaped, nine of them were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

While approaching Nicosia Airport by night on a flight from Cairo, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when, at an altitude of 2,600 feet, the four engine airplane struck the slope of Mt Kyrenia located 16 km from runway 14 threshold. The wreckage was found 117 meters below the summit and all 37 occupants have been killed.

G-ARCO left London-Heathrow Airport at 2145 hours on 11 October 1967, operating British European Airways (BEA) flight BE284 to Athens. It carried 38 passengers and 2 154 kg of freight, including 920 kg for Nicosia. The aircraft arrived at Athens at 0111 hours on 12 October and reached its parking area on the apron at about 0115 hours. Six Athens passengers were disembarked. At Athens the flight became Cyprus Airways flight CY 284 for Nicosia. Four passengers and the captain remained on board the aircraft whilst it was refuelled and serviced for the flight to Nicosia. The Captain and the two First Officers continued with the aircraft but the cabin staff was changed, the new staff being those of Cyprus Airways. Twenty-seven passengers joined the aircraft at Athens for the flight to Nicosia. From the evidence of the BEA and Olympic Airways staff at Athens the aircraft's transit was normal. It was refuelled to .a total of approximately 17 000 kg and only one minor defect, relating to the Captain's beam compass, was recorded in the technical log. This defect was dealt with by the ground crew. The baggage for the passengers joining the aircraft for the flight to Nicosia and the freight was placed in holds 1 and 2; the baggage and freight from London to Nicosia remained in holds 4 and 5. The aircraft taxied out at 0227 hours and was airborne on schedule at 0231 hours; it was cleared by Athens Control to Nicosia on Upper Airway Red 19 to cruise at flight level (FL) 290. After take-off it climbed to 4 000 ft on the 180' radial of Athens VOR and then turned direct to Sounion, which it reported crossing at 0236 hours. At 0246 hours, the aircraft reported that it was crossing R19B at FL 290 and was estimating Rhodes at 0303 hours. At 0258 hours at an estimated position 3fi041'N, 27O13'E, the aircraft passed a westbound BEA Comet which was flying at FL 280. Each aircraft saw the other; the Captain of the westbound aircraft has staked that flight conditions were clear and smooth. G-ARC0 passed Rhodes at 0304 hours and at 0316 hours reported passing R19C at FL 290 and that it estimated passing abeam of Myrtou, Cyprus, at 0340 hours. This message was not received by Athens direct but was relayed by the westbound aircraft. G-ARC0 was then cleared by Athens to change to the Nicosia FIR frequency. The recording of the R/T communications with Nicosia shows that G-ARC0 called them to establish contact; the time of this call was 0318 hours + 9 seconds and it is estimated that the aircraft would then have been at a position 35° 51'N 30°17' E, approximately 15 NM to the east of R19C. Nicosia replied to the aircraft with an instruction to go ahead with its message but no further transmission was heard. Nicosia continued to try to contact the aircraft but without result and overdue action was therefore taken. At 0440 hours R.A.F. Search and Rescue aircraft took off from Akrotiri; at 0625 hours wreckage from G-ARC0 was sighted in the vicinity of R19C, the last reported position. None of the 66 occupants survived the crash.

The aircraft was on a non-scheduled flight from Bangkok to Base1 with scheduled stops at Colombo, Bombay and Cairo. The aircraft departed Bombay for Cairo on 19 April at 1312 hours GMT, with 11 hours and 10 minutes of fuel endurance and an estimated flight time for Cairo of 9 hours. According to the flight plan time, it was due to arrive in Cairo at 2212 hours. The alternate airport for the above sector was given as Beirut. At 2215 hours the aircraft was heard calling Nicosia but, due to distance and height, two-way communication with Nicosia on VHF could not be established until 2234 hours. In the meantime a message was received from Beirut advising Nicosia that the aircraft had entered the Nicosia FIR and had reported over position Red 18A at 2229 hours. From the Area Control radiotelephony tape recording, it is evident that the actual weather conditions at Nicosia at 2145 hours and 2245 h~.:rs were passed to the aircraft at 2238 hours and 2254 hours respectively. Details of the latter actual weather were passed again to the aircraft at 2300 hours by Approach Control. The aircraft came over the field at 2306 hours and was cleared for a right- hand circuit. At 2310 hours, when over the threshold of runway 32, the aircraft was slightly high and the captain decided to overshoot. He informed the tower and was cleared for a left-hand circuit. He further informed the tower that he would carry out a low circuit. The aircraft was momentarily seen by the controller during its final approach and the glare of its landing lights was visible through the low cloud when it made a pass over the runway in use and disappeared from view over the upwind end of the runway in the low cloud to the north-west. On his second attempt to land and while executing a low circuit, the aircraft collided with the ground at 0113LT, 3,5 km short of runway threshold. A crew member and three passengers were seriously injured while 126 other occupants were killed. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

Flight 749 took off from Nicosia at 15:49 for a flight to Cairo. Bad weather existed along the route and weather at destination Cairo was also worsening. The crew contacted Misrair Operations and requested information about possible airports for a diversion. The crew also reported they where flying in a thunderstorm with turbulent and icing conditions. One altimeter read 24000 feet while the other read 25000 feet, the magnetic compass was unserviceable and there was a crack in a cockpit window panel due to the thunderstorm. Possible like Alexandria, Port Said and El Arish were discussed, but the flight continued to Cairo. The flight was cleared for a runway 23 approach and landing, but nothing more was heard from the flight. The aircraft had crashed and caught fire 5 km from the runway.

Middle East Airlines flight 265, a Vickers Viscount registered OD-ADE, was descending for Ankara-Esenboğa Airport, Turkey and had been cleared for an approach to runway 03. Last radio contact was at 13:09 hours GMT when the flight reported being over the Ankara NDB at 8000 feet, descending for 6500 feet. The crew would contact Ankara again over the NDB when inbound. Earlier in the day, at 11:22 GMT, a Douglas C-47 transport plane of the Turkish Air Force (CBK-28) had taken off from Ankara's Etimesgut Air Base for an instrument training flight in the southeast region of the Gölbasi beacon. The duration of the flight was planned for 1 hour 30 minutes . In this type of flight the student pilot is normally seated in the left-hand seat, an orange plexiglass panel is placed in front of him on the left half of the windshield, and he wears dark blue glasses. The instructor is in the right-hand seat and is able to maintain a lookout. The training manoeuvres had been completed, and the aircraft was returning to Etimesgut flying under visual flight rules by the time MEA flight 265 was descending for Esenboğa Airport. The Viscount, cruising on a heading of 283°, collided with the C-47 which was flying on a heading of 243° towards Etimesgut. The lower right-hand-side of the Viscount's nose and the starboard wing struck the C-47 from behind at a 40° angle in the door area on its port side. Propeller no. 3 also struck the C-47's left horizontal stabilizer, cutting it off. The blade ends broke off and remained with the tail unit of the C-47 near the base of the left horizontal stabilizer. The blade of propeller no. 4 cut the underside of the tip of the right horizontal stabilizer. Both aircraft flew together for a very short time then separated. The tail unit of the C-47 having been cut off, the C-47 fell vertically immediately thereafter. Prior to being cut off, the left horizontal stabilizer of the C-47 damaged the starboard side skin covering of the Viscount in the vicinity of the passenger cabin windows. This piece of skin covering broke off, and some of the passengers fell out through this hole. The Viscount flew a very short while following the separation of the two aircraft, then nosed down and fell. Both aircraft crashed into a residential area of Ankara, killing 87 people on the ground. 50 others were seriously injured.

The aircraft was performing a charter flight from Bucharest to Tel Aviv with an intermediate stop at Nicosia. En route at 7,000 meters about 70 km off the Cyprus coast, the power on engine one, two and three dropped. Shortly later, at an altitude of 3,100 meters about 45 km offshore, the engine number four also lost power. The crew elected to divert to Paphos Airport but eventually completed a wheels up landing in a field. All 87 occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair.
Crew:
Virgil Georgescu, pilot,
Nicolae Anghel,copilot,
Boris Ferderber, navigator,
Mircea Trandafir, mechanic,
Emilian Rotaru, radio operator,
Viorica Huţanu, stewardess,
Elena Frâncu, stewardess,
Elisabeta Crâşmaru, stewardess.