Date & Time:
Feb 24, 1985 at 1730 LT
Type of aircraft:
Dornier DO228
Operator:
Registration:
D-IGVN
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Ferry
Survivors:
No
Site:
Desert
Schedule:
Dakar - Lanzarote
MSN:
7039
YOM:
1984
Flight number:
Polar 3
Country:
Western Sahara
Region:
Africa
Crew on board:
3
Crew fatalities:
3
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
3
Circumstances:
The crew was returning to Germany following an expedition in the South Pole (Antarctica). The aircraft departed Dakar on a leg to Lanzarote, and was following another Dornier DO228 from the same Alfred Wegener Institute christened Polar 2 that was flying higher than Polar 3. En route, the aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile and crashed in a desert area located south of Dakhla. All three crew members were killed.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a surface-to-air missile from the Front Polisario.
