Ankara - Van

On December 29, 1994 at 03:30 PM, Ankara - Van experienced a crash involving Boeing 737-400, operated by Turkish Airlines - THY Türk Hava Yollari, with the event recorded near Van-Ferit Melen Eastern Anatolia Region (Dogu Anadolu Bölgesi).

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.

76 people were known to be on board, 57 fatalities were recorded, 19 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 75.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 69, passenger fatalities: 52, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. While descending to Van-Ferit Melen Airport, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with a limited visibility due to heavy snow falls. While on a VOR/DME approach to runway 03, the crew was unable to establish a visual contact with the runway and decided to initiate a go-around. Due to general conditions at destination, the captain decided to return to Ankara but eventually attempted a second approach. Few minutes later, as the visibility dropped to 300 metres, the crew was forced to initiate a second go-around. During the third approach, the crew failed to realize his altitude was too low when the aircraft struck a snow covered hill (70 metres high) located about 4 km from runway 03 threshold and crashed. Five crew members and 52 passengers were killed while 19 other occupants were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. At the time of the accident, the visibility was below minimums.

Aircraft reference details include registration TC-JES, MSN 26074, year of manufacture 1992.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 38.5033°, 43.3964°.