New York – Brussels

On February 15, 1961 at 10:05 AM, New York – Brussels experienced a crash involving Boeing 707, operated by SABENA - Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne, with the event recorded near Brussels Flemish Brabant.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

72 people were known to be on board, 73 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 101.4%.

Crew on board: 11, crew fatalities: 11, passengers on board: 61, passenger fatalities: 61, other fatalities: 1.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Following an uneventful transatlantic flight from New York, the crew started the approach to runway 20 at Brussels-Zaventem Airport. On short final, while at an altitude of 900 feet, the crew raised the landing gear, increased engine power and made a go around. The plane made three 360° turns to the left and climbed to 1,500 feet. During these turns the bank angle increased more and more until the aircraft was in a near vertical bank. The wings then leveled, followed by an abrupt pitch up. The 707 lost speed, started to spiral rapidly towards the ground nose down, crashed and caught fire. All 72 occupants were killed as well as one farmer working in the field. Among the passengers were 17 members of the US National Hockey Team who were flying to Prague to take part to the World Championship.

Aircraft reference details include registration OO-SJB, MSN 17624, year of manufacture 1959.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 50.8793°, 4.4376°.