Turkish Airlines Flight 301

Turkish Airlines Flight 301 was a passenger flight operated by a Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship of Turkish Airlines that crashed during takeoff at İzmir Cumaovası Airport on 26 January 1974 while en route to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport, killing 67 of its 73 passengers and crew.

The aircraft spent the night prior to the accident outside in freezing temperatures, causing frost accumulation on the wings, which was unnoticed by the crew before departure. During takeoff, the pilots over-rotated the plane, causing it to stall, which together with the frost caused the aircraft to climb to just 8–10 m before pitching down and veering left, crashing into the ground and subsequently catching fire.

In 1990, it was claimed that the accident was caused by two of the pilots being drunk. Autopsy results confirmed alcohol was found in the blood of the captain and flight engineer, but that it was not the cause of the accident.

Accident

The pilot in command, İlhan Günaydın, completed the pre-flight walk-around and the plane was ready for departure at 07:07 local time (05:07 GMT) to fly to Istanbul. The aircraft taxied to runway 35 and started its roll after receiving clearance from the tower to do so. The aircraft started lifting off after using 3200 ft of the runway and climbed to a maximum altitude of 8–10 m, after which it started banking to the left and pitching down. The left wing made contact with the ground first, followed by the left fuselage belly which struck the 50 cm bank of a drainage ditch located 28 m left of the runway. The impact ruptured the fuel tank located inside the left wing, causing the plane to catch fire. The plane started to break up as the tail section was separated first. The tail section overtook the fuselage and impacted it between the cockpit and the passenger cabin, causing them to disintegrate as well and turning the latter upside down. The nose section travelled further until it hit a stack of empty drums 2–3 m tall and 150 m away from the runway.