London – Istanbul – Singapore

On September 28, 1964 at 04:50 AM, London – Istanbul – Singapore experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-7, operated by Caledonian Airways, with the event recorded near Istanbul-Yesilköy Marmara Region (Marmara Bölgesi).

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

97 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 97 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 89, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. 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.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ASID, MSN 45161/757, year of manufacture 1957.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 40.9782°, 28.8263°.