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A Pan Am Boeing 727-21 similar to the one involved. This aircraft would later crash asAvianca Flight 410 | |
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 15, 1966 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain; cause unknown |
| Site | |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 727-21 |
| Aircraft name | Clipper München |
| Operator | Pan American World Airways |
| Call sign | CLIPPER 708 |
| Registration | N317PA |
| Flight origin | Frankfurt Airport,Frankfurt, West Germany |
| Destination | Berlin Tegel Airport,Berlin, British Sector |
| Occupants | 3 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Pan Am Flight 708 (PA 708) was a cargo flight that crashed on initial approach less than 10 mi (16 km) west-southwest of its destination airport,Berlin Tegel in Germany, in the early morning hours of November 15, 1966. The flight was operated by aPan American World Airways (Pan Am)Boeing 727-21,registration N317PA,[1] nameClipper München, routing fromFrankfurt Airport. All three crew members perished. The cause was undetermined becauseUS investigators were not allowed to survey the impact site at a Soviet military training ground nearDallgow in what was thenEast Germany, and only half of the aircraft remains were returned bySoviet military authorities in East Germany to their US counterparts in formerWest Berlin.
Flight 708 usually landed atTempelhof Airport. But because of runway maintenance at Tempelhof, Pan Am shifted its flights toTegel Airport. At the time of the accident, weather was poor and it was snowing.
The Soviet authorities returned about 50% of the wreckage. Some major components were not returned, including theflight data andcockpit voice recorders, flight control systems, navigation and communication equipment.
At the time of the crash, theSoviet Union did not belong to theInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).[2] Nations belonging to ICAO allow reciprocal visits by official observers in order to improve aviation safety.
52°30′N13°02′E / 52.5°N 13.04°E /52.5; 13.04