Turkish Airlines Flight 452

Turkish Airlines Flight 452 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by a Boeing 727-2F2 of Turkish Airlines that crashed near Isparta on 19 September 1976 while en route from Milan, Italy, to Antalya Airport, via Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, killing all 154 occupants on board. The crash is the deadliest aviation accident in Turkey's history.

The aircraft arrived in Istanbul from Milan, Italy, and took off again at 22:45 local time. The pilots started descending towards Antalya at 23:11 with the captain in the passenger cabin. The plane crashed at around 23:20 into the Karatepe Hill near Isparta, about 100 km from the destination, after the first officer mistook the city lights of Isparta for the runway of Antalya Airport, despite warnings from the controller at Antalya.

Most passengers were heading to Antalya for vacation and were not Turkish. The bodies of 18 Italian victims were buried at a cemetery near Isparta instead of being sent to Italy. A member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey also died in the crash.

Accident

The plane arrived at Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA) from Milan, Italy, at 21:30 local time with 68 passengers. There were 78 more passengers boarded at Istanbul and the plane took off towards Antalya Airport at 22:45 with a delay of 35 minutes. Most of the additional passengers came from another Istanbul–Antalya flight which was initially scheduled to depart at 21:45, but was merged with Flight 452 instead due to the many empty seats in the Boeing 727.

At 23:11, the pilots reported that they could see the lights of the city, while the plane was around 100 km north of it. 30 minutes after takeoff, they announced they were approaching Antalya Airport and would descend from 4400 m to 4000 m. When the pilots confirmed they had the runway in sight, the controller at Antalya notified them that he couldn't see them. First Officer Soğangöz responded: "Should I believe you, or my eyes?" Captain Topçuoğlu, who was in the passenger cabin, returned to the cockpit after realizing that something was wrong at an altitude of 150 m and gave full throttle when he saw the hill ahead.

Eyewitnesses reported that the plane flew very close to the city and that they could "almost see the passengers". The aircraft passed the Sidre Tepe Hill near Isparta, after which it started to climb. At 23:20, a loud explosion was heard from Karatepe, the hill after Sidre Tepe. The aircraft crashed its right wing in a hill, following which it bounced off to the other side of the valley and disintegrated. The wreckage was at an approximate altitude of 1130 m. At the time of the accident, a horror film was being aired on television, causing some locals to leave their homes after the explosion.