Beirut – Nicosia – Ankara

On February 1, 1963 at 03:13 PM, Beirut – Nicosia – Ankara experienced a crash involving Vickers Viscount, operated by Middle East Airlines - MEA, with the event recorded near Ankara Central Anatolia Region (Iç Anadolu Bölgesi).

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a city crash site.

14 people were known to be on board, 52 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 371.4%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 11, passenger fatalities: 11, other fatalities: 38.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Middle East Airlines flight 265, a Vickers Viscount registered OD-ADE, was descending for Ankara-Esenboga Airport, Turkey and had been cleared for an approach to runway 03. Last radio contact was at 13:09 hours GMT when the flight reported being over the Ankara NDB at 8000 feet, descending for 6500 feet. The crew would contact Ankara again over the NDB when inbound. Earlier in the day, at 11:22 GMT, a Douglas C-47 transport plane of the Turkish Air Force (CBK-28) had taken off from Ankara's Etimesgut Air Base for an instrument training flight in the southeast region of the Gölbasi beacon. The duration of the flight was planned for 1 hour 30 minutes . In this type of flight the student pilot is normally seated in the left-hand seat, an orange plexiglass panel is placed in front of him on the left half of the windshield, and he wears dark blue glasses. The instructor is in the right-hand seat and is able to maintain a lookout. The training manoeuvres had been completed, and the aircraft was returning to Etimesgut flying under visual flight rules by the time MEA flight 265 was descending for Esenboga Airport. The Viscount, cruising on a heading of 283°, collided with the C-47 which was flying on a heading of 243° towards Etimesgut. The lower right-hand-side of the Viscount's nose and the starboard wing struck the C-47 from behind at a 40° angle in the door area on its port side. Propeller no. 3 also struck the C-47's left horizontal stabilizer, cutting it off. The blade ends broke off and remained with the tail unit of the C-47 near the base of the left horizontal stabilizer. The blade of propeller no. 4 cut the underside of the tip of the right horizontal stabilizer. Both aircraft flew together for a very short time then separated. The tail unit of the C-47 having been cut off, the C-47 fell vertically immediately thereafter. Prior to being cut off, the left horizontal stabilizer of the C-47 damaged the starboard side skin covering of the Viscount in the vicinity of the passenger cabin windows. This piece of skin covering broke off, and some of the passengers fell out through this hole. The Viscount flew a very short while following the separation of the two aircraft, then nosed down and fell. Both aircraft crashed into a residential area of Ankara, killing 87 people on the ground. 50 others were seriously injured.

Aircraft reference details include registration OD-ADE, MSN 244, year of manufacture 1957.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 39.8782°, 32.8719°.