What happened
During a transatlantic flight arriving from New York, the crew initiated an approach to runway 20 at Brussels-Zaventem Airport. While on short final at approximately 900 feet, the flight crew executed a go-around procedure by increasing engine power and retracting the landing gear. During the subsequent climb, the aircraft performed three 360-degree left turns, reaching an altitude of 1,500 feet.
As the aircraft maneuvered, the bank angle intensified until the plane reached a near-vertical orientation. Following this period of steep banking, the wings leveled out, but the aircraft then experienced a sudden pitch-up motion. The Boeing 707 subsequently lost airspeed and entered a rapid, nose-down spiral toward the ground. The impact resulted in a post-crash fire. There were 72 fatalities among the occupants of the aircraft, which included 17 members of the US National Hockey Team traveling to Prague for the World Championship. Additionally, one farmer working in a nearby field was killed during the accident.
Findings
Official investigations focused on a potential mechanical failure within the flight control systems. While investigators could not definitively confirm a single cause due to insufficient evidence to corroborate specific hypotheses, they explored the possibility of a simultaneous failure in two different systems. The FAA suggested that the most likely scenario involved a malfunction of the stabilizer adjusting mechanism, which may have allowed the stabilizer to move into a 10.5-degree nose-up position.