ASN Aircraft accident Convair CV-990-30A-6 Coronado HB-ICD Würenlingen

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Status:
Date:	Saturday 21 February 1970
Time:	13:33
Type:	Convair CV-990-30A-6 Coronado
Operator:	Swissair
Registration:	HB-ICD
MSN:	30-10-15
First flight:	1962
Engines:	4 General Electric CJ805-23
Crew:	Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
Passengers:	Fatalities: 38 / Occupants: 38
Total:	Fatalities: 47 / Occupants: 47
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Aircraft fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	2 km (1.3 mls) W of Würenlingen ( Switzerland)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Zürich-Kloten Airport (ZRH/LSZH), Switzerland
Destination airport:	Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport (TLV/LLBG), Israel
Flightnumber:	SR330

Narrative:
A Convair CV-990 Coronado passenger plane, operated by Swissair, was destroyed when it crashed near Würenlingen, Switzerland, killing all 47 on board.
Swissair flight 330 took off from Zürich-Kloten Airport (ZRH), Switzerland at 13:14 on a scheduled flight to Tel Aviv (TLV), Israel.
Seven minutes later an explosion occurred in the aft cargo hold. The airplane was flying at an altitude of 4300 m over Sattel-Hochstuckli, 41 km south of the airport.
The flight crew reported a loss of cabin pressure and initiated a return to Zürich Airport. At 13:26 the crew radioed: "This is an emergency - we have fire on board and request immediate landing... our navigation is not OK... we request police investigation." Smoke on the flight deck prevented the crew from seeing the instruments and about 13:33 electrical power was lost. The airplane entered a steep descent and impacted the wooded Unterwald area near Würenlingen, Switzerland, about 24 km west-northwest of the airport.

On the same day, a bomb exploded aboard a Vienna-bound Caravelle after takeoff from Frankfurt. The Caravelle, operated by Austrian Airlines landed safely.
It was suspected that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was responsible for both attacks. However, the federal prosecutor's office closed the criminal investigation into the perpetrators of the attack in November 2000 because the attackers could not be identified and arrested.
Both bombings led to a UN treaty adopted in 1971, named Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation.

Classification:

Sabotage
Loss of control

Sources:

» Aircraft hijackings and other criminal acts against civil aviation : statistics and narrative reports / FAA
» Aviation Week & Space Technology 02.03.1970 (23-25)
» 20min.ch - «We are crashing - goodbye everybody», 19-2-2010
» Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence / Kameel B. Nasr

Photos

photo of Convair-CV-990-30A-6-Coronado-HB-ICD

accident date: 21-02-1970
type: Convair CV-990-30A-6 Coronado
registration: HB-ICD

accident date: 21-02-1970
type: Convair CV-990-30A-6
registration: HB-ICD

Map

This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Zürich-Kloten Airport to Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport as the crow flies is 2789 km (1743 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.

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