What happened
On the day of the accident, Flight LZ101 was operating a scheduled international service traveling from Sofia to Berlin, with planned stops in Budapest and Prague. After departing Budapest-Ferihegy Airport, the crew received notification that Prague-Ruzyne Airport was closed due to adverse weather. Consequently, the flight diverted to Bratislava-Ivanka Airport, arriving at 12:58LT.
Following a period on the ground, the pilot-in-command elected to attempt the flight to Prague again, departing Bratislava at 16:28:30. The departure instructions required the four engine airplane to perform a right turn toward the OKR Beacon, maintaining an initial altitude of only 300 m before climbing to flight level 5,100 m via the NI beacon. At 16:30:20, air traffic control instructed the crew to switch to the approach service frequency of 120.9 Mc/s. Although the crew acknowledged this instruction, they failed to retune the radio.
Shortly after this exchange, the aircraft struck wooded terrain in the mountains. The impact occurred approximately 8 km from the threshold of runway 31 at Bratislava Airport, at an altitude of 420 m MSL. The crash resulted in 82 fatalities and the total destruction of the aircraft.
Findings
An official commission was unable to definitively determine the exact cause of the accident, but investigators suggested that the crew likely failed to properly assess the local terrain and meteorological conditions within the Bratislava control zone. There were significant doubts regarding whether the crew had adequately evaluated the geographical situation before accepting the flight clearance and executing the departure maneuver. Investigators also noted that a failure to maintain a specific 15-degree bank angle and a minimum speed of 360 km/h may have contributed to the accident, potentially due to errors in navigation or aircraft control.