Linjeflyg Flight 277
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 20, 1964 |
| Type | Pilot error |
| Site | Engelholm, Sweden |
| Passengers | 39 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Injuries | 12 |
| Fatalities | 31 |
| Survivors | 12 |
| Aircraft type | Convair CV-340 Metropolitan |
| Operator | Linjeflyg |
| Tail number | SE-CCK |
Linjeflyg Flight 277 (actually LF267V), a Convair CV-340 Metropolitan (SE-CCK), crashed during the approach to Ängelholm-Helsingborg Airport, Sweden, at the time an air force base. The crew had aborted approaches to two previous scheduled destinations (complete schedule: Bromma - Hultsfred - Halmstad - Engelholm) due to bad weather and low visibility.
The crew abandoned the set procedure in the approach to Engelholm after the tower reported improved weather. When the flight reached Engelholm the visibility was 1.5 to 2 km, the cloud base at 60 m coupled with rain. As a consequence, the pilots began the descent too soon and on a faulty course. A likely reason for this was that the crew allowed themselves to be misled by an arrangement of lights peculiar to the military airfield with which, apart from certain information received during the approach, they were not acquainted. When the pilots realised their mistake they attempted to abort, but the plane hit a set of power lines and a railroad track. After taking ground the airplane slid for several hundred meters and ended up inverted at the end of a farmer's field. 31 of the 43 persons on board were killed, 3 survived without injures and 9 with various degrees of injuries.
The subsequent investigation did not find a definitive cause to the accident. A chain of events is believed to have led up to the tragedy. The pilots were not aware of the non-standard military lighting of the runway, there were misunderstandings in the communication between the tower and the pilots; and the approach radio beacons (inner and outer markers) were not placed in accordance with civil airport regulations.
