1978 Icelandic Airlines Crash

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The 1978 Icelandic Airlines crash occurred on November 15, 1978 at the international airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka when Icelandic Airlines jet TF-FLA crashed on approach just short of the runway. The crash took the lives of 8 Icelandic crew members and 179 Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca, out of a total of 286 passengers and crew. The official report by Sri Lankan authorities gave the probable cause of the crash as being failure of the crew to conform to approach procedures. It is the largest crash in Icelandic aviation history.

The governments of Iceland (Where the plane was registered and operated, United States (Where the aircraft was built) and Indonesia (Where the aircraft took off from on It's way to It's destination in Colombo, Sri Lanka contend the Sri Lanken report of the causes of the crash and blame faulty landing navigation lights located on the ground by the airport. This is confirmed by other pilots from several nations who landed at this airport in the months preceeding the crash of TF-FLA and who also filed reports stating this information and requesting that it would be fixed, It was not.

The Sri Lanken report on the crash is also suspect as the air traffic controller on duty was the brother of a Sri Lanken minister and connected to elements within the government who turn did make an effort to cover the true reason for the crash, pilot error was not the cause of the crash confirmed by the U.S. government, the FAA investigation report and reports conducted by crash investigators of the governments of Iceland and Indonesia.

In 2006 a book was written about the crash and the investigation of the crash, in it U.S., Icelandic and Indonesian sources close to the investigation confirm the cover-up by the government of Sri Lanka. The book is titled Útkall, Leifur Eiríksson Brotlending (See below).