Malév Flight 203

Malév Flight 203 was an international passenger flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Budapest, Hungarian PR with a stop at Bucharest, SR Romania. On September 21, 1977, the plane clipped some trees and crashed while approaching Bucharest Airport, killing 29 of the 53 on board.

Accident

While approaching Bucharest Airport, the Tu-134 descended significantly earlier than expected. It is found that the crew settled the barometric altimeters incorrectly, the crew didn't notice that the plane was flying too low. The spoilers (which were only allowed to be used on ground) were deployed for possibly technical problems. The aircraft descended sharply and it ended up at an altitude of 55 meters (180 feet) in the landing configuration, with 40 kilometers remaining before the runway, flying through the forest. As the crew pushed the throttle to avoid the terrain, it collided with treetops and crashed into the side of a ditch, veered into a field, where it came to rest and burned. The nose gear got stuck in an irrigation canal, the front of the fuselage broke off, and was crushed under the plane, which continued to slide from its momentum. The plane crashed at 16:58.

By the time the Romanian authorities and the fire department arrived at the scene, the firefighters just stared at the burning wreckage. The survivors were taken to Urziceni Hospital - the local hospital, where the staff did not have a good grasp of the circumstances. A survivor, who was a doctor, helped.