Austrian Airlines Flight 901

Austrian Airlines

Industry	Airline
Headquarters	Vienna , Austria
Products	Air transport services

Template:Infobox aircraft occurrence

Austrian Airlines Flight 901 was a scheduled service operating between Vienna, Austria and Moscow, USSR (present-day Russia), with a stop in Warsaw, Poland. On the evening of 26 September 1960, the aircraft assigned to this route, a Vickers Viscount, tragically crashed during its final approach near Moscow, resulting in the deaths of 31 out of the 37 occupants on board.

Aircraft

The airplane involved was a Vickers Viscount 837 model, a four-engine turboprop registered as OE-LAF. Its maiden flight took place on 10 February 1960, and it entered service with Austrian Airlines approximately two weeks later, roughly seven months prior to the accident.

Accident

Carrying six crew members and 31 passengers, the flight departed from Warsaw and was preparing to land on runway 07 at Sheremetyevo International Airport, located on Moscow’s northern outskirts. During its approach, the aircraft crashed in a rural vicinity about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) short of the airport’s runway near Krukovo village.

Investigation

The inquiry concluded that the flight crew had overestimated their altitude, which led to the aircraft striking trees before crashing. It was discovered that the captain’s altimeter (positioned on the left) was calibrated differently than that of the copilot. Specifically, the barometric setting on the captain’s altimeter was adjusted so it would read zero feet while on Sheremetyevo’s ground level, whereas the copilot’s altimeter was set to display the airport’s elevation above mean sea level when on the ground. This discrepancy violated company operating standards; however, investigators could not establish why these conflicting settings were used.

Bibliography

• Eastwood, Tony (1990). Production List of Turbo Prop Airliners. The Aviation Hobby Shop. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-907178-32-3.

External links

• Detailed account of Austrian Airlines Flight 901 at Airdisaster.com