Swissair Flight 306
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Swissair Flight 306, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III, named ''
Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
,'' was a scheduled international flight from
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
to
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, via
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
. It crashed near
Dürrenäsch Dürrenäsch is a municipality in the district of Kulm in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History While Dürrenäsch is first mentioned in 924 as ''Aske inferior'', there are traces of earlier, nearby settlements. Several, individual Hal ...
,
Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...
, on 4 September 1963, shortly after take-off, killing all 80 people on board.


Timeline

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...
was in dense fog when the plane was due to take off at 06:00
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
. At 06:04 the flight was allowed to taxi to runway 34 behind an escorting vehicle. At 06:05 the crew reported that they would taxi halfway down runway 34 to inspect the fog and then return to the take off point. This was done using high engine power in order to disperse the fog. Around 06:12 the aircraft returned to runway 34 and was allowed to take off, which it did at 06:13, and started to climb to flight level 150 (about ), its cruising height. Four minutes later people on the ground noticed a white trail of smoke coming from the left side of the aircraft. Shortly after, a long flame erupted from the left wing. Around 06:20 the aircraft reached a height of about . It then began to descend, entering a gentle left turn before losing height more quickly. It then went into a final, steep dive. At 06:21 a
Mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiz ...
message was issued. At 06:22 the aircraft crashed into the ground on the outskirts of
Dürrenäsch Dürrenäsch is a municipality in the district of Kulm in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History While Dürrenäsch is first mentioned in 924 as ''Aske inferior'', there are traces of earlier, nearby settlements. Several, individual Hal ...
, approximately from Zurich Airport.


Probable cause

The aircraft's brakes overheated due to the application of full engine power during taxiing. This caused the magnesium wheels to burst, one of them on the runway prior to departure. Upon retraction of the landing gear, the hydraulic lines in the gear bay were damaged. This was caused either by the wheels that had exploded, or the bursting of the other wheel rims during the climb. Subsequently, spilled
hydraulic fluid A hydraulic fluid or hydraulic liquid is the medium by which power is transferred in hydraulic machinery. Common hydraulic fluids are based on mineral oil or water. Examples of equipment that might use hydraulic fluids are excavators and backho ...
ignited when it came in contact with the overheated landing gear rims. The fire damaged the gear bay, followed by the wing. The data from the airplane's flight recorder combined with a lack of radio calls from the crew suggested that they likely began experiencing difficulties at 06:18. Irregularities in the data beginning roughly two minutes later indicated that the fire was causing electrical problems, while wreckage analysis suggested that parts of the airplane were detaching "with increasing frequency" around this time. The left engine had shut down prior to the crash; whether this was from crew action or a failure caused by the fire is unknown. The cause for the final loss of control was not conclusively determined. The rigidity of the left wing and rear fuselage, the integrity of the hydraulic flight control system, and the elevator control unit were all noted as possible areas the fire may have affected in the final portion of the flight to an extent which would have caused a rapid loss of control.


Result

As a result of this accident, all Caravelles were modified to use non-flammable hydraulic fluids.


Casualties and aftermath

There were 74 Swiss nationals on board as well as two Americans (one dual citizenship with Iran), one Briton, one Egyptian (Olympic rower Ibrahim Abdulhalim), one Israeli, and one passenger was either from Belgium or Austria. This crash severely affected the small village of Humlikon in the Canton of Zurich: 43 of its 217 citizens (20% of the population) had boarded the plane to visit a farm test site near Geneva. Among those who perished were the entire local council, all members of the local school board, and the village's post office clerk. A number of children who were orphaned were looked after at home by relatives, and six of these children had to move, all but one of whom went to live with relatives nearby. Further problems arose with the upkeep of the local farms, but people from the nearby villages helped. Apprentices came from local firms, students, firemen, soldiers, boy scouts, railroad workers and policemen, as well as volunteer school children, and even from abroad to help. Approximately 600 tons of potatoes were harvested manually, corn was threshed and the new crop seeds were sown in time. Just over a month after the crash, a new council was elected by the 52 remaining eligible voters.


See also

* Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 – a 1991 crash caused by a similar landing gear fire * Air France Flight 4590 – a 2000 crash caused by an in-flight fire triggered by tire burst on take-off * Swissair Flight 111 – another in-flight fire incident suffered by Swissair * Mexicana Flight 940 – A 1986 crash involving landing gear fire * Propair Flight 420 – A 1998 crash involving landing gear fire


References


Further reading

* {{In-flight fires 306 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1963 Aviation accidents and incidents in Switzerland Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight fires Accidents and incidents involving the Sud Aviation Caravelle 1963 in Switzerland September 1963 in Europe