Global InformationArrow Air Flight 1285R information
 Wreckage from Arrow Air Flight 1285R in storage at a Gander Airport hangar on 16 December 1985 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 December 1985 |
| Summary | Cause disputed:
|
| Site | Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, Canada 48°54′43″N 54°34′27″W / 48.91194°N 54.57417°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF |
| Operator | Arrow Air |
| IATA flight No. | MF1285R |
| Registration | N950JW |
| Flight origin | Cairo International Airport, Egypt |
| 1st stopover | Cologne Bonn Airport, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany |
| Last stopover | Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Destination | Campbell Army Airfield, Kentucky, United States |
| Occupants | 256 |
| Passengers | 248 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 256 |
| Survivors | 0 |
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, via Cologne, West Germany, and Gander, Newfoundland.[1] On the morning of Thursday, 12 December 1985, shortly after takeoff from Gander International Airport 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.[2] As of 2024[update], it is the deadliest aviation accident to occur on Canadian soil.[3] At the time of the crash, it was the deadliest aviation accident involving a DC-8; as of 2024[update], it is the second-deadliest, behind the crash of Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 nearly six years later.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.
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.[7]
- ^ "258 killed in Gander plane crash". The Citizen. Ottawa, Canada. The Canadian Press. 12 December 1985. p. 1.
- ^ "Terror bomb ruled out in Canada's worst crash". Montreal Gazette. news services. 13 December 1985. p. A1.
- ^ a b Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
CASB Majority Reportwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dissenting Opinion, Arrow Air Inc. Douglas DC-8-63 N950JW, Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, 12 December 1985 (PDF). Canadian Aviation Safety Board. 14 November 1988. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "Split Decision". Mayday. Season 11. Episode 3. Cineflix. 26 August 2011. Discovery Channel Canada.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
cloudbergwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).