Hamburg - Cologne - Paris

On December 18, 1970 at 12:00 AM, Hamburg - Cologne - Paris experienced a crash involving MBB HFB-320 Hansa Jet, operated by General Air, with the event recorded near Texel North Holland.

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

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The Hansa Jet departed Hamburg (HAM) at 0725LT on a positioning flight to Cologne (CGN) where it was to pick up some passengers who were to be taken to Paris for the signing of the Airbus treaty. While descending through a thick layer of clouds for Cologne, the right engine high pressure fuel pump failed. Some 22 seconds later the electrical system failed. The airplane entered a spiral descent until the first officer was able to light the instrument panel using a flash light. He noticed the severe right bank and told the captain to turn left and pull up. The airplane was brought under control and the crew climbed above the layer of clouds. It was decided to fly on a heading of 330° towards the North Sea, because the crew expected VFR weather there for an emergency landing. After flying for about half an hour the crew saw an island between the clouds, which turned out to be the Dutch island of Texel. Failing to see an airport in the area, it was decided to carry out a forced belly landing on the beach of Texel. The aircraft sustained additional substantial damage when being salvaged.

Aircraft reference details include registration D-CIRO, MSN 1044, year of manufacture 1969.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 53.0029°, 4.7859°.