1971 Zurich-Kloten Approach Accident: LZ130 Diversion and Fatal Crash (LZ-BED)

Flight Details and Diversion Request In the afternoon, an airplane departed Paris on flight LZ130 bound for Sofia, carrying 39 passengers and a crew of eight. While cruising at its assigned altitude vertical to Luxeuil VOR, the captain requested permission from air traffic control to divert to Zurich-Kloten Airport. The reason for this rerouting was unknown. The crew was cleared to change its route and continued over south of West Germany before starting a descent to Zurich. ## Approach and Impact The approach to runway 16 at Zurich-Kloten was initiated in poor weather conditions, with fog reducing horizontal visibility to 600 meters and vertical visibility to 60 meters. On final, the left main gear and the left wing tip struck the ground. The airplane gained a little height, then struck the ground again, lost its four engines, and crashed in flames about 700 meters short of the runway threshold, slightly out from the approach path. ## Casualties and Occupants The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. Only two occupants survived: the captain and a boy aged 12. All 45 other occupants were killed. The occupants were respectively 14 West German, 12 Bulgarian (among them 8 crew members), 9 French, 4 Syrians, 2 Lebanese, one Brazilian, one Dutch, one Argentinian, one Austrian, one Finnish, and one British. ## Official Findings The reason why the crew wanted to divert to Zurich-Kloten Airport could not be determined. It was determined that during an ILS approach to runway 16 in thick fog, the crew neglected several published procedures, which led the aircraft to pass below the minimum descent altitude and the approach path. The lack of visibility due to fog was considered a contributing factor, as the crew was unable to establish visual contact with the ground and the runway. ## Maintenance and Crew The last technical revision (50 hours) was completed two days prior to the accident. The 600 hours check was completed on December 2, 1970, and the big revision (check C) was completed on May 31, 1969. At the time of the accident, the airplane was considered airworthy, and no technical anomalies were reported. The eight crew members were respectively a captain, a copilot, a navigator, a flight engineer, a radio navigator, an aspirant radio navigator, one steward, and one stewardess.