- ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date: May 30, 1961
Time: 0120
Location: Near Lisbon, Portugal
Operator: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Flight #: 897
Route: Rome - Lisbon - Madrid - Santa Maria, Azores -Caracas
AC Type: McDonnell Douglas DC-8-53
Registration: PH-DCL
cn / ln: 45615
Aboard: 61   (passengers:47  crew:14)
Fatalities: 61   (passengers:47  crew:14)
Ground: 0
Summary: Five minutes after taking off from Lisbon, Portugal, the aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. There were indications from the wreckage that the aircraft went into a spiral dive and hit the water at over 500 mph. Either through inattentiveness or loss of an artificial horizon or other instrument malfunction, the aircraft went into a steep left bank from which recovery was not possible. Attitude of the aircraft at the moment of impact pointed to over correction.
Sources

Return to Home Page

Copyright © Richard Kebabjian / www.planecrashinfo.com