Brussels - Tenerife

On March 29, 1981 at 09:40 AM, Brussels - Tenerife experienced a crash involving Boeing 707, operated by Sobelair, with the event recorded near Brussels Flemish Brabant.

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.

117 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 117 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 110, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The four engine airplane departed Brussels-Zavantem Airport runway 02 at 0929LT on a charter flight to Tenerife-Sur Reina Sofia with 110 passengers and a crew of seven on board. While climbing to an altitude of 7,000 feet, the engine n°3 exploded and caught fire. The crew declared an emergency and was cleared to return for a landing on runway 25L. After the fire was contained and while completing a last turn on final, the airplane was approaching too fast and overshot so the pilot decided to land on runway 25R. After touchdown, reversers on engine n°1 and 4 were activated and the crew initiated an emergency braking procedure. Nevertheless, the captain considered the remaining distance as insufficient and decided to steer the aircraft to the left of the runway where it came to rest. All 117 occupants were quickly rescued and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Aircraft reference details include registration OO-SJA, MSN 17623/78, year of manufacture 1959.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 50.8793°, 4.4376°.