​​Boeing 727 pilot attempted to land on a highway

On the evening of September 19, 1976, Boeing 727-2F2 aircraft belonging to Turkish Airlines was operating a flight from Istanbul to Antalya. There were 8 crew members and 146 passengers on board.

Aircraft was being piloted by the first officer. Also in the cockpit were captain, flight engineer and technician. At some point, captain left the cockpit. The first officer saw lights ahead of the Turkish city Isparta. He assumed that the aircraft was already approaching its destination – Antalya. Pilot contacted the airport dispatcher and requested a straight-in approach for landing. Subsequently, without permission from the absent captain, he began descending.

During the descent, pilot switched from instrument to visual flight. Shortly after, the airport tower dispatcher informed that the aircraft was neither visually observed nor on radar. However, at 4000 meters above ground, the first officer saw runway lights and began a visual approach for landing. He then responded to controller: "Should I believe you or my own eyes?"

Aircraft was 150 meters above ground when the captain entered the cockpit. He horrifiedly discovered that the plane was descending onto a busy highway in Isparta. The first officer mistook the lights on this highway for those of the runway. Pilots pulled the controls back and set the engines to takeoff thurst... But it was too late. Systems responded too slowly, causing the aircraft unable to gain altitude. It struck a hill with its right wing, then crashed into the ground and completely destroyed. All 154 people on board died.

The sequence of events was reconstructed thanks to the "black box" recordings. Investigators found that the first officer, instead of strictly flying by instruments as required at night, switched to visual flight. Crew believed that dark area in front of the aircraft was Mediterranean Sea, but it was actually mountains. Additionally, crew mistakenly identified city lights of Isparta as those of Antalya. Furthermore, three days before the crash, system informing pilots of the aircraft's distance to Antalya airport malfunctioned, which contributed to the disaster.