1950 Geysir air crash

Plane crash in Iceland Accident 1950 Geysir air crash Loftleiðir 14 September 1950 Navigational error in adverse weather conditions Bárðarbunga, Iceland 65 02 N 16 33 W source:https://nat.is/geysir-crash-in-bardarbunga/ title Douglas C-54 Skymaster TF-RVC Luxembourg City New York Reykjavík 6 0 6 6 The 1950 Geysir air crash (is Geysisslysið is ˈceiːsɪsˌstlɪːsɪθ, "the Geysir accident") was a plane crash that occurred on 14 September 1950 when a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, christened Geysir, crashed on the southeastern parts of Bárðarbunga on the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland.Jón Sigurgeirsson Fjölmargt fór úrskeiðis https://timarit.is/page/1679492 16 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 24 April 1988 58–59 Icelandic Tímarit.is Jónas Margeir Ingólfsson 60 ár liðin frá Geysisslysinu https://timarit.is/page/5338567 16 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 20 September 2010 12 Icelandic Tímarit.is Sigurður Ægisson Brotlent á Bárðarbungu https://timarit.is/page/1978693 16 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 17 September 2000 4B–9B Icelandic Tímarit.is The crew of six survived the crash but had to wait several days until they were found by rescuers and brought off the glacier.25 ár liðin frá Geysisslysinu https://timarit.is/page/4477187 17 February 2022 Vikan 11 September 1975 1–8 Icelandic Tímarit.is The difficulties that arose during the rescue mission directly led to the creations of specialized air rescue units in Iceland. Crash and rescue Geysir was owned by Loftleiðir which had initially bought the airplane for international flights with passengers in 1948."Geysir" flaug á einum sólarhring frá San Francisco til Reykjavíkur https://timarit.is/page/2751295 17 May 2022 Þjóðviljinn 6 July 1948 6–7 Icelandic Tímarit.is Due to the economic conditions in Iceland, Loftleiðir canceled some passenger flights in 1950 and was using this particular aircraft for freight transport for Seaboard & Western Airlines. On 14 September, Geysir was inbound from Luxembourg City with a planned stopover in Reykjavík before heading on to its final destination of New York. En route to Reykjavík, Geysir drifted considerably off course and around 22:50, one of its wings clipped the Bárðarbunga glacial plateau, resulting in the aircraft crash-landing onto the glacier.Illugi Jökulsson Ísland í aldanna rás 1900-1950 February 2001 JPV Forlag 9979-761-21-0 441–442 2 Icelandic The crew of six survived the crash but were unable to contact anyone as the plane's radio equipment was destroyed. When Geysir failed to arrive to Reykjavík and no contact could be made, a nationwide search for the plane started. Two and a half days after the crash, the crew managed to reach the emergency transmitter in the plane's rubber liferaft and send out a distress call. It was picked up by the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel Ægir, which was then off Skálar in Langanes. The first message read: "Location unknown, everyone alive." Later messages indicated that the plane had crashed on a glacier and that the crew had heard search planes fly over the crash site the day before. The same day, the search and rescue plane Vestfirðingur found the wreckage and relayed its position.Björn Jón Bragason Staðarákvörðun ókunn, allir á lífi https://timarit.is/page/6800815 16 February 2022 Dagblaðið Vísir 22 5 June 2015 Icelandic Tímarit.is A specially equipped Douglas C-47 Dakota from the United States Air Force was sent from Greenland to aid in the rescue. The Skytrain landed on the glacier and took on the crew of Geysir, but failed several attempts to take-off again. A land based rescue expedition from Akureyri was also organized and reached the crash site the following day, and rescued both crews from the glacier. Cause The Air Accident Investigation Board concluded in its investigation that the root cause of the accident was a navigational error. Two of Geysir's crew, the aeronautical engineer and one of the pilots, as well as the air traffic controller on duty that night, were prosecuted for violating the Aviation Act laws and General Penal Code. The air traffic controller was acquitted but the aeronautical engineer was found guilty and lost his flight license for life and the pilot was fined 4.000 ISK. The investigation was heavily criticized as it did not look into whether the equipment on the plane had failed, whether the transmissions of the LORAN stations were deficient at the date of the crash, or whether the weather had any effect on the plane drifting of course. Meteorologist Trausti Jónsson later concluded from available data that an unusual, sharp and unexpected wind string for that time of the year carried the plane from its course, with the result that it came to land close to Berufjörður instead of Mýrdalur. Aftermath The problems that arose during the rescue operations directly led to the creations of specialized air rescue units in the country. The first one, Air Ground Rescue Team of Reykjavík (Icelandic:Flugbjörgunarsveitin Reykjavík), was founded on 24 November 1950.Stefán Þorsteinsson 2ja ára flugbjörgunarstarfs minnzt https://timarit.is/page/1175691 17 February 2022 Vísir 25 November 1952 5 Icelandic Tímarit.is Flugbjörgunarsveitir eru nú starfandi á sex stöðum á landinu https://timarit.is/page/2775740 17 February 2022 Þjóðviljinn 26 October 1956 3 Icelandic Tímarit.is Flugbjörgunarsveitin https://timarit.is/page/2668337 17 February 2022 Dagur 23 November 1982 6–7 Icelandic Tímarit.is About FBSR https://www.fbsr.is/about-fbsr/ Air Ground Rescue Team of Reykjavík 19 February 2022 A month after the crash, the Air Force attempted to rescue the stranded Dakota from the glacier but had to abandon the mission due to bad weather. The following year, the plane, which was valued at 250.000 dollars, was sold to Loftleiðir for a reported 700 dollars.Elín Pálmadóttir Alltaf heppinn https://timarit.is/page/1881559 19 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 22 June 1997 20–22 Icelandic Tímarit.is Jón R. Hjálmarsson George O. Hambrick Á Vatnajökli 1950 https://timarit.is/page/3301452 17 February 2022 Lesbók Morgunblaðsins Morgunblaðið 4 April 1981 10 Icelandic Tímarit.is Loftleiðir kaupa flugvélina á Vatnajökli https://timarit.is/page/1086330 17 February 2022 Alþýðublaðið 20 March 1951 8 Icelandic Tímarit.is In April 1951, Loftleiðir set out a rescue party that spent 21-days digging up the plane from under 7 meters of snow and bringing it down from the glacier.Flugvél eindurheimt úr útilegu https://timarit.is/page/4367903 17 February 2022 Fálkinn 11 May 1951 3, 15 Icelandic Tímarit.is Sigurður Bogi Sævarsson 40 ár frá Geysisslysinu https://timarit.is/page/4060083 17 February 2022 Tíminn 14 September 1990 1 Icelandic The plane was christened Jökull and flew for Loftleiðir for several years.Flugsagan https://www.flugsafn.is/is/flugsagan Aviation Museum of Iceland 17 February 2022 Icelandic In film Biðin langa: A documentary about the crash that premiered on RÚV in 1987.Forráðamenn Loftleiða vildu ekki að myndin yrði sýnd almenningi https://timarit.is/page/1669623 16 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 3 December 1987 33 Icelandic Tímarit.is Geysisslysið á Vatnajökli: A documentary about the crash by Eðvarð Sigurgeirsson.Jón Hjaltason Kvikmyndatökumaðurinn Eðvarð Sigurgeirsson https://timarit.is/page/2685365 17 February 2022 Dagur 12 November 1988 7 Icelandic Tímarit.is Staðarákvörðun óþekkt: hálf öld liðin frá Geysisslysinu: A 2000 documentary by Sagafilm covering the accidentSkýrsla nefndar um flugsögu og flugminjar á Íslandi https://www.stjornarradid.is/media/menntamalaraduneyti-media/media/ritogskyrslur/flugsaga-skyrsla.pdf Stjórnarráðið 17 February 2022 9 Icelandic that was nominated for the Edda Awards as the best documentary of the year.Sæbjörn Valdimarsson Tilnefnd og ótilnefnd https://timarit.is/page/1983266 17 February 2022 Morgunblaðið 3 November 2000 C1 Icelandic Tímarit.is Further reading Geysir á Bárðarbungu, 1963. (in Icelandic): Book by Andrés Kristjánsson covering the accident and rescue.Bók um Geysisslysið https://timarit.is/page/1063834 17 February 2022 Tíminn 3 December 1963 2 Icelandic Tímarit.is Útkall - Geysir er horfinn, 2002. (in Icelandic): Book by Óttar Sveinsson about the accident and rescue.Höfundur raunverulegrar spennu https://timarit.is/page/3039785 16 February 2022 Dagblaðið Vísir 7 December 2002 32 Icelandic Tímarit.is References Category:1950 in Iceland Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-4 Category:Icelandic Airlines accidents and incidents Icelandic Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Iceland Category:Bárðarbunga