ČSA Flight 540
ČSA (Československé Státní Aerolinie) Ilyushin Il-62 · Controlled Flight Into Terrain for unknown reasons
From Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) to Mehrabad International Airport (THR)
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
- 126 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 128
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
- 2
- 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
Ilyushin Il-62
- Flight
- OK540
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-62
- 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
- OK-DBF
- Onboard fatalities
- 126
- Route
- From Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG)To Mehrabad International Airport (THR)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
ČSA Flight 540 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Prague, Czechoslovakia to Tehran, Iran via Damascus, Syria and Baghdad, Iraq. On 20 August 1975, the flight, operated by an Ilyushin Il-62, crashed 17 km (11 mi) from Damascus International Airport while descending at night in clear weather, breaking up and catching fire on impact. 126 of the 128 passengers and crew died in the accident, making it Syria's worst air disaster and the worst air disaster for the airline. Following the crash, the Czechoslovak government sent their condolences to the victims and Damascus.
Accident
The plane crashed in an area of high desert approximately 17 km from Damascus Airport.
Initially there were 3 survivors, but one of them, a boy died on the way to the hospital. That brought the death toll to 126 with 2 survivors.
One of the Polish victims was Konrad Swinarski, theatre director and theatre manager.
The Hungarian victim was Tihamér Vujicsics (Serbian: Тихомир Вујичић / Tihomir Vujičić), composer and folk music collector of Serbian descent.
Text from the Wikipedia article “ČSA Flight 540” (revision 1367180683, 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: ČSA Flight 540
- Article
- ČSA Flight 540
- Revision
- 1367180683 · 2026-08-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q12033079
- 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 "ČSA Flight 540" (page 40690598, revision 1367180683)
- 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
- airline flight number in the infobox
- 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.