1977 Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 crash
Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion · Controlled flight into terrain
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 54 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 54
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky CH-53
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 960
- Operator
- Israeli Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 54
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 10 May 1977, an Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 Yas'ur helicopter crashed during an exercise in the Jordan Valley, killing all 54 on board (including the 10-member flight crew). The disaster became known as Ason HaNun-Daled, or "Disaster of the 54".
It remains the worst single-aircraft accident in the West Bank. The crash site was in the Jordan Valley, near the Israeli settlement of Na'aran, north of Jericho in a wadi. The cause was determined to be flying at too low an altitude during the dark, which caused the helicopter to strike a hill, crash and explode (CFIT, Controlled flight into terrain).
Text from the Wikipedia article “1977 Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 crash” (revision 1339315214, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1977 Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 crash
- Revision
- 1339315214 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4577674
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1977 Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 crash" (page 12523548, revision 1339315214)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.