1975 Transall C-160 accident on Crete

In the accident of a Transall C-160 on Crete (controlled flight into terrain), on 9 February 1975 an aircraft of Air Transport Wing 63 from Hohn near Rendsburg crashed during an instrument approach to Chania Airport on Crete. None of the 42 occupants on board survived the accident.

Sequence of events

As part of the annual live firing exercise of the Bundeswehr's air defence missile units (FlaRak), soldiers of Air Defence Missile Battalion 39 from Süderbrarup were to be transferred to Crete. A crew of LTG 63 was tasked with carrying out the flight. In 1968 the wing had been the first of the three air transport wings to convert to the Transall, and for the flight it assigned Captain Karl Heinz Schacht as aircraft commander, who had 5,200 flight hours, and as co-pilot Colonel Elmar Schlottmann, 39, who until 1 October 1974 had been wing commander of LTG 63 and, as a so-called “licence holder”, was regularly detailed to Rendsburg to fly in order to maintain his pilot's licence. By the time of the accident he had just over 3,000 hours.

The flight proceeded without any particular incidents; the aircraft reported for the last time at 14:22 local time, already on the frequency of the Chania control tower, and stated that it had descended to 9,000 feet (2740 metres) and was turning onto the final approach course. Shortly afterwards the aircraft collided with Mount Malotyra at an altitude of 1,700 metres above sea level. At the time of the accident the aircraft was flying in instrument meteorological conditions; there was driving snow, so the pilots had to rely solely on their instruments during the approach.