![]() ![]() The Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB) investigated the crash and, in a report signed by five of its nine board members, found that during its approach toward Gander, precipitation conditions were favourable for the formation of ice on the aircraft's wings. Flight 1285R broke up, struck an unoccupied building and exploded this started an intense fire fed by the large amount of fuel carried on board for the final leg of the flight. Witnesses driving on the highway stated that they saw a bright glow emanating from the aircraft before it struck terrain just short of Gander Lake and crashed approximately 3,500 feet (1,100 m) beyond the departure end of the runway. After crossing the Trans-Canada Highway, located about 900 feet (270 m) from the departure end of runway 22, at a very low altitude, the aircraft's pitch increased, and it continued to descend. Once airborne, the airspeed reached 172 knots (319 km/h 198 mph) IAS before decreasing again, causing the DC-8 to descend. Witnesses reported the aircraft showed difficulty gaining altitude after rotation. It rotated near taxiway A, 51 seconds after brake release, at an airspeed of about 167 knots (309 km/h 192 mph) IAS. The DC-8 began its takeoff roll on runway 22 from the intersection of runway 13 at 10:15 UTC (06:45 NST). Witnesses reported that the flight engineer conducted an external inspection of the aircraft, after which the passengers re-boarded the aircraft. The aircraft arrived at Gander International Airport at 09:04, where passengers departed the aircraft while the aircraft was refuelled. The aircraft departed Cairo at 20:35 UTC on Wednesday 11 December 1985, and arrived at Cologne on Thursday 12 December 1985, at 01:21 UTC.Ī new flight crew, consisting of Captain John Griffin and First Officer John Connelly (both 45), and Flight Engineer Michael Fowler (48), boarded the aircraft before it departed for Gander at 02:50 UTC. The flight was made up of three legs, with refuelling stops in Cologne and Gander. ![]() The DC-8 involved in the accident (registration N950JW) was manufactured in 1969, and was first delivered to Eastern Air Lines and then leased to other airlines before being leased to Arrow Air under its owner/parent company, International Air Leases. They had completed a six-month deployment in the Sinai, in the Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping mission. Army personnel, all but 12 of them members of the 101st Airborne Division, back to their base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF, was chartered to carry U.S. N950JW, the aircraft involved in the accident in April 1984 at Zürich Airport while still in service with Arista International Airlines. In response to lack of confidence in accident investigations by the CASB, the Government of Canada shut the board down in 1990, replacing it with an independent, multi-modal investigative agency – the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The dissenting report led to delays in changes to de-icing procedures, and a thin layer of ice caused the deadly crash of Air Ontario Flight 1363 in Canada in 1989. A minority report stated that the accident could have been caused by an onboard explosion of unknown origin before impact, with one of these dissenting investigators later telling a United States congressional committee that a thin layer of ice could not bring down the aircraft. The accident was investigated by the Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB), which determined that the probable cause of the crash was the aircraft's unexpectedly high drag and reduced lift condition, most likely due to ice contamination on the wings' leading edges and upper surfaces, as well as underestimated onboard weight. At the time of the crash, it was the deadliest aviation accident involving a DC-8 as of 2023, it is the second-deadliest, behind the crash of Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 six years later. As of 2022, it is the deadliest aviation accident to occur on Canadian soil. On the morning of Thursday, 12 December 1985, shortly after takeoff from Gander en route to Fort Campbell, the McDonnell Douglas DC-8 serving the flight stalled, crashed, and burned about half a mile from the runway, killing all 248 passengers and 8 crew members on board. ![]() Army personnel from Cairo, Egypt, to their home base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, via Cologne, West Germany, and Gander, Newfoundland. ![]() Class=notpageimage| Location in NewfoundlandĪrrow Air Flight 1285R was an international charter flight carrying U.S. ![]()
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