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1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes

18 Dec 1979 · Mosfellsheiði, Iceland

Cessna 172 and 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (67th ARRS), United States Air Force (USAF) Sikorsky HH-3E · Air crashes

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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
Unknown
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
Unknown
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
11
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
Military

Aircraft 1 · Cessna 172

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
TF-EKK
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Not stated
Survivors
Not stated
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
4
Route
From not recordedTo Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)

Aircraft 2 · Sikorsky HH-3E

Aircraft type
Sikorsky HH-3
Category
Helicopter · 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
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Not stated
Survivors
Not stated
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
Route
From Naval Air Station Keflavik, IcelandTo Reykjavík, Iceland

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes were two aviation accidents in Iceland that occurred about four hours apart on 18 December 1979 on a heath between Reykjavík and Þingvellir. The first accident occurred when a Cessna F172M Skyhawk aircraft, with four on board, crashed into the heath. The second accident occurred when a Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter of the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, United States Air Force (USAF), from the Iceland Defense Force at Naval Air Station Keflavik, crashed with three of the injured from the previous accident, two Icelandic doctors and a five-man U.S. crew shortly after takeoff from the first crash site.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes” (revision 1344186822, 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: 1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes
Article
1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes
Revision
1344186822 · 2026-03-18 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q65336403
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 "1979 Mosfellsheiði air crashes" (page 65241763, revision 1344186822)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
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.