1970-09-26

Crash site Mykines, Faroe Islands 
Airline Icelandair / Flugfélag Islands 
Aircraft Fokker F27 Friendship  –  TF-FIL 
Route Reykjavik  –  (Vagar)  –  Bergen  –  Vagar 
Crew 4  –  3 survivors 
Passengers 30  –  23 survivors 

 

The crash

In accordance with an agreement with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) Icelandair operated the route to the Faroe Islands.
On 23 and 24 September 1970 flight FI 701 from Reykjavik, Iceland to Vagar, Faroe Islands was cancelled due to bad weather at Vagar. On 25 September the Fokker plane left Reykjavik with estimated arrival at Vagar airfield 15:52. Due to fog at Vagar a landing was not possible, and after 45 minutes the plane continued on to Bergen, Norway where it landed at 19:22.
The next morning the plane took off from Bergen at 09:22 and about two hours later the plane was again near Vagar. Due to poor visibility the pilot decided to hold the plane and wait for better sight. At 10:52 the conditions had improved and the pilot decided to make a landing. At 10:57 radio contact was lost as the plane had crashed on a fairly even plateau on the island of Mykines 452 m above sea level.
The reason for the crash was that the plane began the descent in a wrong position probably due to problems with the instruments (interference).

 

The mail

According to the loadsheet prepared by SAS in Bergen the plane had 578 kg mail on board. The mail was loaded in containers located in 10 seats in the forward part of the passenger cabin.
It is not known if these 578 kg were the mail originally loaded in Reykjavik, or if any mail was unloaded in Bergen. It is also unknown if any mail was loaded on the plane in Bergen.
As the stay in Bergen was not planned, there was pprobably no mail ready to be loaded for this flight?
According to the Icelandair timetable for the 1967 season the route Copenhagen to Reykjavik via Bergen and Vagar was flown only on wednesdays and sundays. I have no timetable from 1970, so this might have changed.

 

 

 

 

Examples of mail

19700926 010a   

Cover from Denmark with metermark COPENHAGEN 25.9.70 to Thorshavn, Faroe Islands.
On top of the cover is a manuscript note in German language referring to the crash (26.9.1970. Air Crash on the Faroe Islands). This note was most likely written by a collector.
Bot Collection.

I am sceptic about this cover. It was sent from Copenhagen 25.9. so how could it be on a plane which departed from Bergen, Norway the following morning?