Date: | Sunday 24 February 1985 |
Time: | 17:30 |
Type: | Dornier 228-100 |
Owner/operator: | Alfred Wegener Institut |
Registration: | D-IGVN |
MSN: | 7039 |
Year of manufacture: | 1984 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Other fatalities: | 0 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
Category: | UI |
Location: | S of Dakhla -
Western Sahara
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
Departure airport: | Dakar-Yoff Airport (DKR/GOOY) |
Destination airport: | Lanzarote Airport (ACE/GCRR) |
Narrative:The Dornier 228 named "Polar 3" was on a return flight (together with Do-228 "Polar 2") to Germany following a South Pole expedition. Both aircraft departed Dakar around 14:45 for a flight to Arrecife, Canary Islands. Last radio contact with Polar 3 was around 17:30. While overflying the Western Sahara, 5 minutes behind Polar 2 and at a lower altitude, Polar 3 was shot down by Frente Polisario guerrillas. They probably though the plane in question was a Moroccan spy plane. The Western Sahara territory was fully annexed by Morocco in 1979. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Rabat's sovereignty ended in a 1991 cease-fire; a referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed.
Sources:
Luchtvaartwereld nr.1, 1986 (p.19-20)
Location
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |