1958 Yemen Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash
Douglas C-47 Skytrain · Controlled flight into terrain
From Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International Airport (CIA) to Dojno Polje Airport, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
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
- 8
- 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
Douglas C-47 Skytrain
- Aircraft type
- Douglas C-47
- 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
- YE-AAB
- Operator
- Yemen Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 8
- Route
- From Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International Airport (CIA)To Dojno Polje Airport, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Poggiodomo, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
On 3 November 1958, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain operated by Yemen Airlines crashed near Poggiodomo, Italy, killing all eight occupants on board, including the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Yemen. The investigation determined the cause to be controlled flight into terrain by pilot error.
Accident
The passengers were Victor Jonescu, Giorgi Trenteo, Mohamed Murala, and Mohamed Sajet Ashani. Jonescu and Trenteo were Romanian dentists, Murala was a Yemeni businessman, and Ashani was the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Yemen.
The flight departed Ciampino Airport at 16:45 GMT on an IFR flight plan and was to proceed to Dojno Polje Airport via Viterbo, Pescara, and Split. At 17:29 ATC notified the aircraft that it was to the left of Viterbo. At 17:36 the crew radioed that they were over Viterbo and the plane was to arrive at Pescara at 18:17. At 17:38 the aircraft was cleared to climb from 8500 ft to 13000 ft and asked to transfer from VHF to HF. This was the last communication with the flight, and at approximately 18:00 the C-47 crashed on the western slopes of Monte Porretta, near Roccatamburo, Poggiodomo, at a height of 2690 ft. Before the impact, some witnesses reported seeing the plane on fire and rapidly losing altitude. All occupants on board were killed and the plane was destroyed.
The local Carabinieri was contacted and was responsible for the recovery of the bodies. The recovery of the bodies was hindered by heavy rain in the area the morning after. The Yemeni and Yugoslavian embassies sent representatives to Poggiodomo after the accident.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
All navigations aids were functioning properly at the time of the accident. The crew was also informed of the weather conditions. All instruments, navigation aids, and radio equipment were operational up until the impact. The investigation concluded that the pilot may have descended to 2690 ft to, either, rest after a lengthy instrument flight, make a visual position check, or eliminate icing. He could have also thought that the plane had crossed the mountains. The investigation reached the conclusions that the crew were inadequately trained and preparation for the flight was inadequate and, that the accident was caused by faulty conduct of flight.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1958 Yemen Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash” (revision 1351129762, 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: 1958 Yemen Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash
- Revision
- 1351129762 · 2026-04-26 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q138298400
- 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 "1958 Yemen Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash" (page 82264233, revision 1351129762)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- operator named as an airline 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.