Swissair Flight 316
McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62 · Runway overrun
From Zürich Airport (ZRH) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)
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
- 14 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 154
- Survivors
- 140
- 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
- 10
- 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
McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas DC-8
- 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
- HB-IDE
- Operator
- Swissair
- Onboard fatalities
- 14
- Route
- From Zürich Airport (ZRH)To Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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
On 7 October 1979, a Swissair DC-8 crashed while landing at Athens-Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece. Of the 154 passengers and crew on board, 14 were killed in the accident.
Accident
Swissair Flight 316 was an international scheduled passenger service from Zurich, Switzerland to Peking, China (now Beijing) via Geneva, Athens, and Bombay (now Mumbai). The aircraft, named Uri, was piloted by Captain Fritz Schmutz and First Officer Martin Deuringer.
Flight 316 touched down on runway 15L at a speed of 146 kn, decelerated, but overran the runway and came to rest on a public road. The left wing and tail separated, and fire broke out. Fourteen of the 142 passengers on board died. Among the dead were British, German, and French citizens. Of the passengers on board, 100 were doctors on their way to a medical convention in China.
One of Flight 316's survivors was Hans Morgenthau, a professor emeritus from the University of Chicago and expert in International Relations.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation determined that the crew touched down too far down the runway, at too high a speed, following a non-stabilised approach, and that they failed to properly utilise the aircraft's brake and reverse thrust systems, resulting in the aircraft being unable to stop within the available runway and overrun distance.
One member of the operations team of the Accident Investigation Committee had a different opinion from the rest of the committee regarding the cause of the accident, stating that he believed the crew failed to realise the touchdown speed and distance, failed to follow the company's poor-braking-action landing technique, and failed to properly utilise the aircraft's brake and reverse thrust systems.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Swissair Flight 316” (revision 1372688607, 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: Swissair Flight 316
- Article
- Swissair Flight 316
- Revision
- 1372688607 · 2026-09-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7659034
- 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 "Swissair Flight 316" (page 35291623, revision 1372688607)
- 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.