Germany

On final approach to Wilhelmshaven-Mariensiel Airport, the crew was completing a last turn at an altitude of about 600 feet when the airplane struck tree tops located 600 meters short of runway threshold. The airplane lost height and crashed in flames 100 meters short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and all four occupants were killed.

The crew started the approach to Stuttgart-Echterdingen in poor weather conditions. The visibility was very limited due to snow falls. On final, the twin engine airplane was too low, struck the ground and crashed in flames in an open field located few km short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed and all five occupants were killed.

Few minutes after takeoff from Leipzig-Halle Airport, en route to Kraków, Poland, the pilot informed ATC about technical problems and was cleared to divert to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. The airplane landed hard on runway 25L and after touchdown, was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran and came to rest. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The four engine aircraft departed Berlin-Schönefeld Airport at 1630LT on a charter flight to Burgas, carrying 148 passengers (144 East German citizens, three Austrians and one unknown nationality) and eight East-German crew members. Thirteen minutes later, while cruising at an altitude of 29,200 feet, the crew informed ATC about technical problems and was cleared to return to Berlin. The dumping fuel system was activated at 1651LT and three minutes later, as the situation worsened, the captain started an emergency descent. At 1659LT, he informed ATC that he was losing control of the airplane and declared a fire on board. Shortly later, the empennage detached and totally out of control, the airplane dove into the ground and crashed in flames in a wooded area located in Königs Wusterhausen, about 11 km southeast of Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. The aircraft was totally destroyed and none of the 156 occupants survived the crash. Up to date, this was the worst aircraft crash in the European History.

Shortly after takeoff from Düne Airport on Helgoland Island, while climbing to a height of 60 meters, the airplane banked left and crashed 200 meters to the left of the runway. Both pilots and six passengers were killed while five other occupants were injured.

The 614 had been designed with servo-tab elevators, control and trim tabs on the rudder, and spring and trim tabs on the ailerons. The result of this was a very complex mathematical model of vibration characteristics, which was not complete by the time of the first flight. This was accordingly limited to a maximum indicated airspeed of 140kt and an altitude of 3,000ft, Flight tests were pushed out towards the edges of the envelope: 330 kt IAS, Mach 0-74 diving speed; 285 kt IAS, Mach 0-65 V M O . Real-time data monitoring and transmission was used to assist in observing the flights. Flying went ahead cautiously in the second half of 1971, because ground-resonance testing of the 614 was not showing full correlation with prediction. As the envelope was extended small explosive charges—"bonkers"—were used to stimulate flutter conditions. The most serious flutter problem centred on the elevators. At 260 kt IAS and 10,000ft and above, the firing of asymmetric bonkers on the elevator caused a 3sec flutter phase. This was stopped either by a reduction in speed or a permanent distortion of the tailplane structure. Apart from the restriction caused by the flutter problem, the first 614 cleared the flight envelope to 260 kt IAS and 25,000ft, for lateral, directional and longitudinal stability. The accident to the first aircraft occurred after it had been fitted with flutter dampers. The effect of these was to re-introduce the asymmetric flutter at 220 kt and 10,000ft on a check flight. This time the flutter could not be eliminated by slowing down and the crew abandoned the aircraft. The aircraft dove into the ground and crashed in a field near Bremen-Neuenland Airport. Two occupants were rescued while the copilot Hans Bardill was killed when his parachute failed to open.
Source: Flight International

Shortly after takeoff from runway 34 at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport, while climbing to an altitude of 1,000 feet, both engine stopped almost simultaneously (the right engine failed immediately after the left engine). The crew declared an emergency and the captain decided to attempt an emergency landing on the Hamburg - Kiel Highway. On touchdown, the airplane slid for several yards, struck a concrete bridge, lost its wings and tail. It veered to the left and came to rest in flames, broken in two after the cockpit separated. A crew member and 21 passengers were killed while all others occupants escaped, 45 of them were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

En route from Austria to Germany, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity. He decided to reduce his altitude and attempted an emergency landing when the airplane crashed in a hill terrain located near Trosberg. Both occupants were killed.

En route, the twin engine airplane suffered an explosion, dove into the ground and crashed in an open field located in Ried, some 14 km southeast of Augsburg. The airplane was totally destroyed and the pilot, sole on board was killed. The exact cause of the explosion and subsequent loss of control remains unknown.

Crashed during thunder storm . The aircraft was seen to leave cloud in a steep dive, whereupon a wing folded and the crash occurred. It was believed that the aircraft had suffered inadvertent 'negative G' during the thunderstorm activity and as a result the bottom wing strut bolt had sheered, thus the wing was no longer correctly braced. It is believed that the US Military Beaver fleet had also suffered a number of similar fatal accidents under these circumstances.