Interflug Flight 450

Interflug

Industry	Airline
Founded	1958
Defunct	1991
Headquarters	East Berlin , East Germany
Products	Air transport services

Interflug Flight 450 Accident

Interflug Flight 450 was a charter service destined for Burgas, Bulgaria that tragically crashed soon after departing from Berlin-Schönefeld Airport in Schönefeld, East Germany, on 14 August 1972. The disaster resulted from a rapidly spreading fire in the rear cargo compartment, which compromised the aircraft’s structural framework. This catastrophic event led to the loss of all 156 individuals on board, including passengers and crew members. It remains the deadliest aviation incident on German territory and ranks as the third most fatal involving an Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft.

Aircraft and crew

The airplane involved was an Ilyushin Il-62 manufactured in the Soviet Union, bearing the registration DM-SEA and equipped with four Kuznetsov NK-8 engines. Its maiden flight occurred in April 1970, and prior to the incident, it had accumulated a total of 3,520 hours in the air.

The flight deck team included 51-year-old captain Heinz Pfaff, 35-year-old first officer Lothar Walther, 32-year-old flight engineer Ingolf Stein, and 38-year-old navigator Achim Flilenius. Their respective flight experience amounted to 8,100, 6,041, 2,258, and 8,570 hours.

Crash

Interflug flight 450 departed from Berlin-Schönefeld Airport at 16:30 local time. Due to the summer vacation season, the aircraft was nearly at full passenger capacity, predominantly tourists traveling to the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The takeoff was executed without incident, and the plane proceeded on a southeast course toward Czechoslovakia, currently known as the Czech Republic.

At 16:43, thirteen minutes after departure and flying at an altitude of approximately 8,900 metres (29,200 ft) over Cottbus, East Germany, the crew reported an issue with the aircraft's elevator. By this moment, the plane had deviated roughly 10 degrees from its planned route. The pilots requested clearance to return to Schönefeld but did not consider the situation urgent enough to divert immediately to the closest airport. At 16:51, they performed a fuel jettison to reduce the landing weight. Meanwhile, cabin attendants noted smoke emanating from the rear section of the cabin. With Berlin-Schönefeld Airport visible just a few kilometers to the south, a distress call was issued at 16:59:25, reporting difficulties maintaining altitude control. At this stage, it is believed that the crew was unaware that fire had been consuming parts of the aircraft’s aft section. Moments later, the fire-compromised tail assembly detached from the plane, causing it to enter an uncontrollable descent. The intense forces during the dive led to structural disintegration mid-air, scattering debris over the town of Königs Wusterhausen, East Germany.

Cause

File:Flugzeugabsturz Wildau.JPG

Memorial at Wildau Cemetery

Final transmissions from the pilot indicated that a fire originating in the rear portion of the aircraft triggered the disaster. This area was inaccessible from within the cabin and lacked any smoke detector systems; consequently, the crew could not immediately assess how severe the fire was. The blaze started due to a leak in a hot-air duct through which air heated to approximately 300 °C (570 °F) escaped, damaging electrical wire insulation as well as components of the aircraft flight control system. Shortly after takeoff, a resulting short circuit generated sparks reaching temperatures near 2,000 °C (3,600 °F), igniting a fire in Cargo Bay 4. The fire spread progressively until smoke infiltrated the passenger cabin and compromised the structural integrity of the fuselage. Ultimately, this caused failure of the tail section during flight.

Memorial

Near Königs Wusterhausen, within the Wildau Cemetery, a tribute stands honoring the victims. Their names are inscribed on a dark stone monument.

See also

• LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055
• South African Airways Flight 295
• Swissair Flight 111

External links

• Record at aviation-safety.net
• www.interflug.biz