Interflug Flight 450

Interflug Flight 450 was a holiday charter flight to Burgas, Bulgaria operated by an Ilyushin Il-62 that crashed shortly after take-off from Berlin-Schönefeld Airport in Schönefeld, East Germany, on 14 August 1972. The accident was caused by a fire in the aft cargo bay which spread quickly, destroying the aircraft's structural integrity. All 156 passengers and crew died. To this day, it is the deadliest aviation accident to occur on German soil and the third deadliest accident involving an Ilyushin Il-62.

Crash

Interflug flight 450 left Berlin-Schönefeld Airport at 16:30 local time. The number of passengers – mainly tourists bound for the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast – almost reached the full capacity of the airliner. Takeoff proceeded normally, and the aircraft then headed southeast towards Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic.

At 16:43, thirteen minutes into the flight and 8900 m above the city of Cottbus, East Germany, the crew reported problems with the elevators; the aircraft was by this time approximately 10 degrees off its designated route. The flight requested a return to Schönefeld but did not think the situation was critical enough for an immediate landing at the nearest airport. At 16:51, the crew carried out a fuel dump to decrease landing weight. Meanwhile, flight attendants reported smoke in the rear section of the cabin. With Berlin-Schönefeld Airport already in sight a few kilometres south, the flight issued a mayday at 16:59:25, indicating problems controlling the aircraft's altitude. At this time, the flight crew was likely unaware that the fire had been consuming portions of the rear of the aircraft. A few seconds later, the tail section, weakened by the fire, separated from the aircraft, causing it to enter an uncontrolled descent. Due to the forces of the dive, the rest of the aircraft broke up in mid-air, with the debris landing in the town of Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany.