Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871
Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle I · Controlled flight into terrain
From Copenhagen, Denmark to Cairo, Egypt
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
- 42 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 42
- 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
- Airline
Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle I
- Aircraft type
- Sud SE-210
- Category
- Airplane · 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
- OY-KRB
- Operator
- Scandinavian Airlines System
- Onboard fatalities
- 42
- Route
- From Copenhagen, DenmarkTo Cairo, Egypt
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871 was a scheduled flight from Copenhagen in Denmark to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, with several intermediate stops, operated by Scandinavian Airlines System. On 19 January 1960, the Sud Aviation Caravelle flying the service crashed while operating a leg between Yeşilköy Airport, Turkey and Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey. The flight was on approach but crashed 6 NM from the airport, killing all 42 occupants on board. This was the first fatal crash of a Caravelle.
Accident
Flight 871 took off from Copenhagen Airport at 09:44 UTC. The aircraft had already stopped at Düsseldorf in Germany and Vienna in Austria before arriving at Istanbul at 17:20 UTC, where a fresh crew boarded the aircraft to operate the remaining portion of the flight. It departed Istanbul's Yeşilköy Airport at 18:00 UTC on a flight to Ankara's Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey. There were 35 passengers and 7 crew on board the aircraft. The flight was uneventful until the crew started the approach to the airport. At 18:41 UTC the crew reported to air traffic control that the aircraft was in a descent from FL135 (approximately 13500 ft) to FL120 (approximately 12000 ft). At 18:45 UTC the crew reported inbound passing an altitude of 6500 ft on the descent. At 18:47 UTC the aircraft struck the ground at an elevation of 3500 feet (1,067 m), between the Ankara range and the airport. The accident killed all 42 passengers and crew on board.
Investigation and cause
Cause
"The accident occurred because of an unintentional descent below the authorized minimum flight altitude during final descent approach to Esenboga Airport. The reason for this descent could not be ascertained due to lack of conclusive evidence."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871” (revision 1371258821, 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: Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871
- Revision
- 1371258821 · 2026-08-25 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7429941
- 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 "Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871" (page 26699013, revision 1371258821)
- 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
- flight number in the article title
- 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.