Talk:ČSA Flight 540

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Cause of the crash

I am hoping that some of the following can be incorporated into the article, even if the remainder is WP:OR / speculation.

I have already made several edits, all based on known facts, that might point an educated reader towards the reasons for the crash, but for now that is as much as I can do in the article itself. The following is added in the hope that at some point another editor might be able to fill in the blanks.

1. The aircraft was approaching Damascus in clear weather, but at night.
2. It was descending over an area of empty desert, probably fairly featureless and unlit (speculation and/or educated guess)
3. [quote]; Although most of the instruments were destroyed in the accident, it was also concluded that the co-pilot Žižka, out of habit, entered the wrong barometer value, (i.e. "QNH 1010")

   Note; the custom in the Eastern-bloc at that time was to use QFE settings (see iDNES.cz)

4. The aircraft crashed in the (high) desert, then began to slide on its belly, clearly not as a result of a high impact angle. After feeling a bump, the only surviving adult passenger is quoted as noting that the aircraft had landed "15 minutes early", but whilst looking at her watch, her world turned upside down and she woke up in the desert having been thrown clear of the aircraft. This sounds like a controlled flight into terrain.
5. The (high) desert crash site was at an altitude of 605 metres (1,985 ft). That fact alone is a game-changer.
6. An aircraft without an altimeter properly set for QNH 1010 might well descend to less than 2,000 feet AMSL at a distance of 17km from the runway.
7. FWIW Damascus Airport is also at a similar altitude to the crash site.

#3 and #4 are unreferenced in terms of inline citations (as is much of the article), but have elements of detail that suggests they came from reliable sources. I have subsequently identified a possible source that seems to concur. So, does anybody here know anything about the News-Magazine iDNES.cz?

iDNES.cz https://www.idnes.cz/technet/technika/pristali-jsme-rekl-a-zemrel-havarii-csa-pred-36-lety-prezili-jen-dva.A110818_154326_tec_technika_pka

The one remaining question; is there any possibility after all this time, of accessing the official report?

Footnote; Personally I don't buy the story of the two Czech diplomats being eye-witnesses. I have, on occasion, seen and identified aircraft at incredible distances of up to 100km (for real!), but that is in clear daylight and with the benefit of either powerful binoculars or (preferably) a good telescope. At night, identifying an Ilyushin Il-62 at 17km would be difficult enough in any circumstances, but frankly impossible if you were behind glass, supping coffee at a bar in a well-lit terminal building. At best you might see some landing lights, but we are told they weren't on, so.... meh!

WendlingCrusader (talk) 20:13, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As regards the crash site being a "featureless desert", I believe it is close to 'Lake Otaybah', an intermittent or seasonal lake. The map also seems to show a military camp (or three) in the vicinity, depicted by a little green tank(?)

https://wikimapia.org/12696482/Lake-Otaybah

WendlingCrusader (talk) 20:22, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]