Zurich - Tel Aviv

On February 21, 1970 at 01:34 PM, Zurich - Tel Aviv experienced a crash involving Convair CV-990, operated by Swissair, with the event recorded near Würenlingen Aargau.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

47 people were known to be on board, 47 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 9, passengers on board: 38, passenger fatalities: 38, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is terrorism act, hijacking, sabotage. The airplane departed Zurich-Kloten Airport runway 28 at 1314LT bound for Tel Aviv with 38 passengers and nine crew members on board. Seven minutes later, while climbing to an altitude of 14,000 feet some 41 km south of the airport, the captain contacted ATC and declared an emergency stating that a denotation occurred in the cargo compartment and that the cabin pressure was dropping. He requested an immediate return to Zurich and during the following minutes, he reported successively that smoke spread in the cabin and cockpit and that some of the instruments were unserviceable. He also reported the failure of the electrical system and asked for a radar assistance. While he was vectored to the airport, the copilot said 'smoke on board, I don't see anything' then the captain reported 'we are falling, goodbye everyone'. The airplane then completed a 180 turn, nosed down and crashed in a huge explosion in a wooded area located near the village of Würenlingen, some 22 km northwest of runway 14 threshold. The airplane totally disintegrated on impact and all 47 occupants were killed. At the time of impact, the airplane was in a nose-down attitude of 12° and at a speed of 422 knots and in a slight left bank. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were marginal with rain falls, a cloud base at 300 meters, overcast till 600 meters, visibility up to 5 km and wind 15-20 knots. Among the passengers were 15 Israelis, nine Germans, five Americans, two Canadians, two Mexicans, one Belgian, one French, one British, one Thai and 10 Swiss citizens, among them all nine crew members.

Aircraft reference details include registration HB-ICD, MSN 30-10-15, year of manufacture 1962.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 47.5321°, 8.2570°.