Valkenburg - Valkenburg

On January 15, 1981 at 10:30 AM, Valkenburg - Valkenburg experienced a crash involving Breguet Bre.1150 Atlantic, operated by Royal Netherlands Navy - Marineluchtvaartdienst, with the event recorded near Atlantic Ocean All World.

The flight was categorized as survey / patrol / reconnaissance and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

12 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 9 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 25.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 8, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The airplane departed Valkenburg Airbase and was engaged in a maritime patrol flight over the Atlantic, shadowing a Soviet 'Kiev Class' Navy ship. En route, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with blizzard, low visibility, turbulences, strong winds and 30 feet waves. At 0958, the crew declared an emergency and was forced to ditch the aircraft about 185 km west of the Hebrides Islands. The crew of a RAF Sea King arrived on scene about two hours later and was able to evacuate nine injured people while three others were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration 255, MSN 62.