Loftleiðir Flight 001
TF-FLA, the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 15 November 1978 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain caused by faulty airport equipment along with crew and ATC error |
| Site | Katunayake, Sri Lanka 7°12′33″N 79°54′8″E / 7.20917°N 79.90222°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-8-63CF |
| Aircraft name | Leifur Eiríksson |
| Operator | Loftleiðir on behalf of Garuda Indonesian Airways |
| IATA flight No. | LL001 |
| Call sign | LIMA LIMA 001 |
| Registration | TF-FLA |
| Flight origin | Kandara Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Stopover | Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Destination | Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia |
| Occupants | 262 |
| Passengers | 249 |
| Crew | 13 |
| Fatalities | 183 |
| Injuries | 75 |
| Survivors | 79 |
Loftleiðir Flight 001 was a Hajj charter flight operated by a Douglas DC-8 which crashed on approach to Colombo, Sri Lanka on 15 November 1978. The crash killed 183 out of 262 passengers and crew members. The official report by Sri Lankan authorities determined the probable cause of the crash to be the failure of the crew to conform to approach procedures; however, American and Icelandic authorities claimed faulty equipment at the airport and air traffic control errors as the reasons for the crash. It was the second-deadliest aviation accident in 1978, behind Air India Flight 855.
With 183 fatalities, the crash of Flight 001 is the deadliest crash involving an Icelandic airline and the second deadliest in Sri Lankan aviation history after Martinair Flight 138, another chartered DC-8 that crashed four years earlier.