Iberia accident near Tangier

The Iberia accident near Tangier occurred on 31 March 1965 on an international charter flight from Málaga to Tangier. On final approach the Convair CV-440-62 used on this flight stalled and then crashed into the sea after a loss of control. 50 of the 53 occupants died in the accident; only three passengers survived.

Accident sequence

The aircraft took off from Málaga at 09:33 local time on the charter flight to Tangier. The flight was planned as an outbound and return flight. The aircraft flew in favourable weather conditions as far as Gibraltar, but north-west of Tangier the pilots flew into a zone with conditions below the weather minima. The pilots first contacted air traffic control at 09:55 and gave their estimated time of arrival as 10:05. The pilots then received the weather report from 09:20. At 09:58 the pilots were informed that the Tangier VOR was out of service. Two minutes later they were asked to report on reaching a height of 2,500 feet or when they had the runway in sight. At 08:02 the weather observations from 07:50 were transmitted to them together with the latest QNH (1,024 MB) and QFE (1,022 MB). The crew acknowledged receipt of the radio message at 08:03. All subsequent attempts by air traffic control in Tangier to make contact went unanswered. It subsequently turned out that the aircraft had crashed into the sea at about 08:04 about 10 nautical miles off the Moroccan coast. Three passengers were rescued; 50 other occupants were killed.