Icelandic Airlines Flight 001

Loftleiðir HF LL 001, a charter flight, crashed on November 15, 1978 on approach just short of the runway at the international airport of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Douglas DC-8 crash killed 8 of the 13 Icelandic crew members, 5 reserve crew members and 170 (mostly Indonesian) Muslim pilgrims from South Borneo, out of a total of 262 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; however U.S. and Icelandic authorities officially claim faulty equipment at the airport and air traffic control error as the cause of the crash. It is by far the worst crash in Icelandic aviation history and the second worst in Sri Lankan aviation history after Martinair Flight 138 that crashed four years before.

The flight departed Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, en route to Surabaya in Indonesia. It was to land at Colombo-Bandaranaike International Airport for a refueling stop and crew rotation. Thunderstorms were in the area, and windshear was an issue.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the incident was a DC-8 chartered for Hajj operations; the aircraft's registration number was TF-FLA, and its name was "Leifur Eiríksson".

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• Martinair Flight 138

References and external links

• "Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed by His Excellency the president to inquire into the causes and circumstances in which Loftleider Icelandic Airways aircraft DC-8-63F TF-FLA met with an accident in the vicinity of the Katunayake Airport on 15th November 1978" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2014. 

Further reading

• Sveinsson, Óttar (2006). Útkall: Leifur Eiríksson brotlendir (in Icelandic). ISBN 9979-9728-4-X.