Zurich – Croydon

On February 28, 1936 at 12:00 AM, Zurich – Croydon experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-2, operated by Swissair, with the event recorded near Zurich Zurich.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

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

The listed crash cause is weather. Just after lift off from Dübendorf Airport, near Zurich, the captain Walter Mittelholzer noted the aircraft was unable to gain sufficient altitude as the speed was too low. He decided to land past the runway but the aircraft hit a fence, lost its left main gear and slid for several yards before colliding with several trees and coming to rest in an orchard. The captain, the radio navigator and two passengers were injured while all four other occupants were unhurt. The aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair as the right wing was partially sheared off and the left wing severely crushed. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were poor with snow falls and icing that probably reduced the aircraft performances on takeoff.

Aircraft reference details include registration HB-ITI, MSN 1321, year of manufacture 1934.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 47.3842°, 8.4949°.