Tehran – Beirut

On March 15, 1963 at 09:10 AM, Tehran – Beirut experienced a crash involving Avro 685 York, operated by Middle East Airlines - MEA, with the event recorded near Karaj Alborz.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a plain, valley crash site.

4 people were known to be on board, 4 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The Avro York plane carried out a freight flight from Beirut to Tehran via Kuwait. On the Kuwait-Tehran leg of the flight several test manoeuvres were carried out by a check pilot who was examining the pilot in command and co-pilot for renewal of their licenses. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a huge explosion 11 km southeast of Karaj, west of Tehran. The aircraft was completely destroyed upon impact and all four crew members were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration OD-ACZ, MSN 1218, year of manufacture 1945.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 35.8336°, 50.9808°.