Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782 was an international charter flight from Stuttgart-Echterdingen Airport,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Adnan Menderes Airport Adnan () is traditionally regarded as the patriarch of the Adnanite Arabs, a major Arab lineage that historically inhabited Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central Arabia. The Adnanites are distinct from the Qahtanite Arabs of Southern Arabia ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

that crashed near

Seferihisar Seferihisar is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 375 km2, and its population is 60,914 (2024). Seferihisar district area borders on other İzmir districts of Urla to the west and Menderes to the east, and t ...

on 2 January 1988. At the time,

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...

was a 100% subsidiary of

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-230 with the serial number 22635/774 and it was registered D-ABHD. Its first flight was on June 15, 1981, and it was delivered in July of the same year to the airline. The aircraft was equipped with 2

Pratt & Whitney JT8D The Pratt & Whitney JT8D is a low-bypass (0.96 to 1) turbofan engine introduced by Pratt & Whitney in February 1963 with the inaugural flight of the Boeing 727. It was a modification of the Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojet engine which powered the ...

-17A engines. The captain, Wolfgang Hechler (48), was a former Starfighter pilot. The First Officer was Helmut Zöller (33).

Accident description

The flight was uneventful until

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of A ...

, when the aircraft, with the co-pilot acting as

Pilot flying In commercial aviation with a two-person flight crew, the pilot flying (PF) is the pilot operating the flight controls of the aircraft. The other pilot is referred to as the pilot monitoring (PM) or pilot not flying (PNF). Before a flight departs, ...

, was cleared for an ILS approach to the Outer Marker (

Non-Directional Beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are i ...

) and then on to Runway 35. The aircraft's ILS was switched on after it had passed the NDB, therefore missing the turn. The crew, confused, then followed the wrong side beam of the ILS, and struck Dümentepe Hill, from the airport, killing all 16 people on board.

Investigation

According to the evaluation of the

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

, captain Hechler continuously talked to First Officer Zöller, even in the approach phase and kept on criticising, lambasting and insulting him, partly without reference to duty or work subjects. The investigation concluded that the accident occurred due to the incorrect use of navigation aids. The cause is attributed mainly to the lack of adherence to company procedures, especially with respect to crew coordination during approach and basic instrument flying procedures.FUS Flugunfall-Kurzbericht 2X0001/88, Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung

References

{{Lufthansa Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988 Aviation accidents and incidents in Turkey Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original 1988 in Turkey History of İzmir Province January 1988 in Turkey 1988 disasters in Turkey

Aircraft

Accident description

Investigation

See also

References