Arrow Air Flight 1285R · Gander International Airport
On December 12, 1985, Arrow Air Flight 1285R (Gander International Airport). 256 people died.
- Date
- December 12, 1985
- Place
- Gander International Airport
- Killed
- 256
- Position
- 48.912°N, 54.574°W
- Wikidata ID
- Q3180238
From Wikipedia
Arrow Air Flight 1285R was an international charter flight carrying U.S. Army personnel from Cairo, Egypt, to their home base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, US, via Cologne, West Germany, and Gander, Newfoundland. On the morning of Thursday, 12 December 1985, shortly after takeoff from Canada's Gander International Airport en route to Fort Campbell, the 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. As of 2026, it is the deadliest aviation accident to occur on Canadian soil. At the time of the crash, it was the deadliest aviation accident involving a DC-8; its death toll was surpassed by the crash of Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 nearly six years later.
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.
Text from Wikipedia, “Arrow Air Flight 1285R”, CC BY-SA 4.0; shortened to the introduction. Authors.
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Source: Wikidata (CC0) and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Figures such as deaths are as recorded there and may differ from official reports.
