Caledonian Airways

Douglas DC-7

Flight 355 took off from London for a flight to Singapore via Istanbul. The first approach to Istanbul runway 24 was abandoned because the pilot-in-command couldn't see the runway lights. Heavy rain continued as the pilot approached for the second time. VHF communications were lost during a short period of time because of a power failure in the tower transmitter and was restored when the plane was in the procedure turn. Lightning and heavy turbulence were reported during the descent and the runway was sighted when descending to 500 feet. The pilot made a slight correction to the right and ordered full flaps and power reduction to 20" boost. The plane sank quickly just short of the runway and more power was ordered, but the left main gear had struck the ground in line with the runway, 72 m short of the threshold. The plane bounced and touched down again 14 m further on. The left main gear as well as nose gear collapsed, causing the no. 1 and 2 engines to break off, followed by the entire left wing. The fuselage skidded 260 m down the runway and a fire developed.

Douglas DC-7

The aircraft lined up on runway 12 and took at 1820 GMT (night takeoff evening twilight ended at 1756 hours). According to the controller on duty at the control tower the aircraft's landing lights were not on during the take-off. The aircraft lifted off runway 12 after what appeared to be an unusually long run of approximately 2,300 meters (of 2,850 meters available) after release of the brakes and gained height with difficulty. The anti-collision light was seen at a low altitude and the disappeared behind the trees. Five seconds later the sky was lit up by a fire. The left wing and left side of the fuselage struck the first trees of the forest at a height of about 22 meters above the elevation and about 2,300 meters beyond the threshold of runway 30. After the initial impact in a near level flight attitude and with the aircraft slightly banked to port, it then went progressively into a dive with the left wing low and sheared the tops of the trees over a traversed distance of about 130 meters before final impact with the water of a creek. The attitude of the aircraft on final impact was approximately 25° nose down with the same angle of left bank. The aircraft exploded on impact. The fuel and oil spread over the surface of the water and ignited. The fire destroyed the submerged parts of the wreckage. All 111 occupants were killed.