1948 Ulrichstein air accident
Det Danske Luftfartselskab Douglas DC-3/C-53DO · The 1948 Ulrichstein air accident occurred on 12 February 1948
From Copenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH) to Zürich Airport (ZRH)
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
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 9
- 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 DC-3/C-53DO
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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
- OY-DCI
- Operator
- Det Danske Luftfartselskab
- Onboard fatalities
- 12
- Route
- From Copenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH)To Zürich Airport (ZRH)
Approximate · Estimated position: Ulrichstein, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1948 Ulrichstein air accident occurred on 12 February 1948. On that day a Douglas DC-3/C-53DO of Det Danske Luftfartselskab, which was on an international scheduled flight from Copenhagen via Frankfurt am Main to Zurich, was flown into a wooded area (according to other sources onto a field) of the Vogelsberg near Ulrichstein (Hesse) during an emergency landing at the end of the first leg of the flight. Of the 21 occupants on board, 12 were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
While the aircraft was approaching Frankfurt am Main Airport in adverse weather conditions, the pilots informed air traffic control that an engine failure had occurred on the aircraft. Since the captain was unable to maintain the minimum safe altitude, he was forced to carry out an emergency landing. The pilots looked out for a suitable landing site. At 13:25 local time a crash landing occurred in a wooded area (according to other sources on a field) near Ulrichstein, about 70 km north-east of Frankfurt am Main Airport. On impact a wing was sheared off, creating a hole in the fuselage through which some passengers were able to leave the aircraft quickly. However, all four crew members and eight passengers were killed.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall bei Ulrichstein 1948” (revision 269734831, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall bei Ulrichstein 1948
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269734831 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q117286575
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall bei Ulrichstein 1948" (page 12578563, revision 269734831), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- "scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.