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Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704

26 Sept 1970 · Mykines, Faroe Islands, Denmark

Fokker F27 Friendship · Controlled flight into terrain

From Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV) to Vágar Airport (FAE)

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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
8 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
34
Survivors
26
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

Fokker F27 Friendship

Flight
NY704
Aircraft type
Fokker F27
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-FIL
Onboard fatalities
8
Route
From Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)To Vágar Airport (FAE)

Cause areas

  • Personnel issues › Task performance
  • Aircraft › Aircraft systems

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

Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704 was an aircraft accident involving the controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) of a Fokker F27 Friendship on the island of Mykines in Faroe Islands, on 26 September 1970 at 10:56. The Flugfélag Íslands aircraft was on its way to Vágar Airport, making a pass over Mykines before crashing into the highest peak of the island. Of the 34 passenger and crew on board, 8 died in the crash. The captain and 7 passengers, all seated on the left side of the plane, were killed. 26 passengers and crew survived, some with serious injuries. Three passengers hiked for an hour to reach Mykines village to alert the authorities. Most of the villagers went up the mountain to aid the survivors before the arrival of the Danish patrol vessel F348 Hvidbjørnen.

Accident

The Fokker F-27 TF-FIL, listed as flight FI 704, was originally scheduled to fly from Reykjavík, Iceland, to Vágar, Faroe Islands, on 23 September 1970 but due to fog in Vágar the flight was delayed and again the day after. On 25 September TF-FIL left Reykjavík with an estimated arrival over the "MY" radio beacon near Vágar of 15:52. Due to fog at Vágar, TF-FIL was unable to land and continued on to Bergen Airport in Norway and landed there at 18:22. The following day weather had improved and Flight 704 left Bergen at 08:22 in the morning. The plane arrived over Mykines at about 10:20 but due to foggy conditions, it went into a holding pattern. At 10:52 TF-FIL acknowledged that they would now turn around to the MY beacon and initiate a landing procedure. At about 10:55 TF-FIL reported that it was inbound over MY and descending. About one minute later, the aircraft impacted on the slopes of the highest point of Mykines.

Investigation and cause

Cause

The cause of the accident was that Flight 704 began the descent through cloud procedure from a starting point other than over "MY" NDB. During this procedure the aircraft hit close to the highest point of Mykines at an altitude of about 1500 ft. The reason for starting the procedure from a position other than "MY", was probably an interference caused by Flight 704's weather radar, which caused the ADF to give the crew an erroneous indication that they were passing "MY" NDB.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704” (revision 1342408196, 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: Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704
Article
Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704
Revision
1342408196 · 2026-03-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q104776752
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 "Flugfélag Íslands Flight 704" (page 65424603, revision 1342408196)
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.