So these are plane crashes from around the world, but it's only for the countries that had a true crime case, if you don't see a plane crash in here, check my True crime from around the world book.
Warning, this book contains plane crashes and video...
This plane crash takes us to the European nation of Belgium, which is located next to the following countries: Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands and France.
WARNINGS OF A PLANE CRASH
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Pictured above is a similar type of aircraft involved in this accident
Sabena Flight 548 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Idlewild Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK) in New York City to Brussels Airport (IATA: BRU, ICAO: EBBR) in Belgium. On the 15th of February 1961, the Boeing 707-329 operating the flight crashed on approach to Brussels Airport, killing all 72 people on board and one person on the ground. The fatalities included the entire United States figure skating team, which was traveling to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The precise cause of the crash remains unknown; the most likely explanation was thought to be a failure of the mechanism that adjusts the tail stabilizer.
This was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 707 in regular passenger service; it happened 28 months after the 707 airliner had been placed into commercial use.It remains the deadliest plane crash to have occurred on Belgian soil.
There were 11 crew members on board the flight. The two pilots, 43-year old Louis Lambrechts (15,384 flight hours) and 48-year old Jean Roy (16,231 flight hours), were both former military pilots. There were no difficulties reported during the seven-and-one-half hour transatlantic flight from New York, although the flight crew lost radio contact with the Brussels airport about 20 minutes before approaching to land.
Under clear skies, at about 10:00am Brussels time (CET; 09:00am UTC), the Boeing 707 was on a long approach to Runway 20 when, near the runway threshold and at a height of 900 feet (270 m), power was increased and the landing gear retracted. The airplane had been forced to cancel it's final approach, as a small plane had not yet cleared the runway. The 707 circled the airport and again attempted to land on the adjoining Runway 25, which was not operational, but this second approach was also aborted. Witnesses observed that the pilots were fighting for control of the aircraft, making a desperate attempt to land despite the fact that a mechanical malfunction was preventing them from performing a normal landing. The plane circled the airfield three times altogether, and the plane's bank angle gradually increased until the aircraft had climbed to 1,500 feet (460 m) and was in a near vertical bank. It then leveled its wings, pitched up abruptly, lost speed and spiraled rapidly, nose-down, plunging into the ground less than two miles (3 km) from the airport at 10:05am CET (09:05am UTC).
The location of the crash was a marshy area adjacent to farmland near Berg, four miles northeast of Brussels. Eyewitnesses said that the plane exploded when it struck the ground, and heavy black smoke was seen emanating from the wreckage, which had burst into flames. Theo de Laet, a young farmer and noted amateur cyclist who was working in a field near the crash site, was killed by a piece of aluminum shrapnel from the plane. Another field worker, Marcel Lauwers, was struck by flying debris that necessitated the partial amputation of his leg.
