1955 Leopoldsberg air accident

In the 1955 Leopoldsberg air accident, on 10 October 1955 a Convair CV-340-58 of the Yugoslav airline JAT collided with terrain in dense fog while approaching Vienna Airport, killing 7 of the 29 occupants.

Flight

The aircraft had taken off from Belgrade Airport at 13:30; the route was to lead to London with a scheduled stopover in Vienna. On board were 25 passengers and four crew members. The pilot in command on this flight was Romeo Adun, his co-pilot Rista Kostic.

The approach to Vienna Airport was planned for 15:30 on runway 12/30 with an approach from the south, upstream along the Danube. Because of the dense fog prevailing in Vienna, an extended holding pattern was flown. Owing to the weather, only the pilots of one other aircraft decided to land at Schwechat. The other aircraft flew to alternate airports, such as Linz-Hörsching Airport. The pilots made radio contact with the tower in Vienna at 15:25 and requested landing clearance. The tower granted it and instructed them to remain at 3,500 feet (1,000 metres) and, on reaching the localizer, to turn onto the runway heading and begin the descent. At 15:30 the pilots turned onto the runway heading of 113° via an initiated left turn and, after renewed radio contact, received landing clearance. The landing gear and the flaps were then extended and the descent was begun.

At a height of just under 400 metres the aircraft touched the treetops of the 425 m high Leopoldsberg, whereupon the pilots recognised the error and still tried to pull the aircraft up. Eyewitnesses reported the impact at 15:42 near the Josefinenhütte on the Wiener Höhenstraße.

The aircraft broke into two parts, the front part being completely destroyed. The captain and six other occupants died in the impact, and 17 others were injured. The co-pilot was thrown out of the cockpit and survived the accident seriously injured. Six people came through the accident uninjured and were able to leave the wreck on their own.

Cause of the accident

The accident was investigated by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation in Vienna. The accident investigation commission found that the accident was attributable to an excessively wide turn before landing, with an associated loss of orientation and the resulting misinterpretation of the altitude. The pilots flew upstream along the Danube for eight minutes, in the process ending up north of the Kahlenberg, and were thus further north than their assumed position. On turning onto the localizer in the extension of the runway, the landing approach was begun, thereby flying directly towards the mountainside. The survivors reported that the pilots had pulled the aircraft up shortly before the collision and had thus probably prevented even greater loss of life.

The wreck was removed from the accident site three days later and, after the investigation by the authorities, was bought and recycled by a scrap dealer from Vienna. On 21 April 1956 the Austrian Tourist Club erected a memorial stone flanked by two cypresses at the crash site.