Kabul - Kandahar - Beirut - Istanbul - Frankfurt - London

On January 5, 1969 at 01:34 AM, Kabul - Kandahar - Beirut - Istanbul - Frankfurt - London experienced a crash involving Boeing 727-100, operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines, with the event recorded near London-Gatwick West Sussex.

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.

62 people were known to be on board, 50 fatalities were recorded, 12 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 80.6%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 54, passenger fatalities: 43, other fatalities: 2.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The accident occurred on a scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt when the aircraft was making an ILS approach for a night landing on Runway 27 at Gatwick Airport. The weather was clear except that freezing fog persisted in places including the Gatwick area. The runway visual range (RVR) at Gatwick was 100 metres. The approach was commenced with the autopilot coupled to the instrument landing system (ILS) but after the glide-slope had been captured the commander who was at the controls, disconnected the autopilot because the "stabiliser out of trim" warning light illuminated. At the outer marker the flap setting was changed from 1° to 30° and shortly afterwards the rate of descent increased and the aircraft descended below the glide-slope. Some 200 feet from the ground the pilot realised that the aircraft was too low and initiated a missed approach procedure. The aircraft began to respond but the descent was not arrested in time to avoid a collision with trees and a house that destroyed both the aircraft and the house and set the wreckage on fire. 48 occupants as well as two people in the house were killed. 14 others were injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

Aircraft reference details include registration YA-FAR, MSN 19690/540, year of manufacture 1968.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 51.1564°, -0.1579°.