In the afternoon of January 2nd, 1988 Condor flight DE 3782 departed Stuttgart International Airport (STR) for Izmir, Turkey (ADB), with 5 crew members and 11 passengers on board.

The aircraft was D-ABHD, a Boeing 737-200. It crashed to pieces during approach to Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport at 19:18 local time against Dümentepe Hill 10,5 NM southwest of the airport.

All passengers and crew lost their lives. The crew were:

Wolfgang Hechler (pilot in command)
Helmut Zöller (first officer)

Lothar Mühlmeister (purser)
Susan Epple (flight attendant)
Susanne Kaltenbach (flight attendant)

The passengers were:

Zeki Aktas, Mübeccel Can, Ethem Delinaslan, Necla Demirel, Tülay Yildiz, Müslim Yildiz, Mustafa Azur, Hüseyin Vidinli, Faruk Simsek, Tanza Akcif, Sadri Yetmisbir.

Death was caused by impact, burning and suffocation from smoke. One detail is particularly grim. It was found out that the flight attendant sitting in one of the rear jumpseats initially survived the impact and post impact fire but was seriously injured, unconscious and later suffocated on her own vomit.

The plane's wreckage was scattered all over Dümentepe Hill. At the moment of impact airspeed was 132 knots and the plane's heading 322°. Consequent to the impact heading turned 260°.

The final accident investigation report came to the conclusion that the accident was caused due to wrong use of navigation aids, the lack of adherence to company procedures, especially in respect of crew coordination during approach and basic instrument flying procedures.

I recently flew with one of the flight attendants (now a LH purser) who was part of the crew bringing the aircraft in from ADB to STR. The plane was scheduled to fly a FRA-ADB-STR-ADB-FRA rotation that fateful day. The first crew flew two uneventful legs, briefly talked to the new crew and then they took over for the STR-ADB-FRA legs of the planned rotation.

The purser was called out of reserve and wasn't really happy to be there.
Two days later he was on the front page of a daily German (yellow press) newspaper. His body hanging from a tree in front of the plane's tail with the two final letters of the aircraft registration and Condor logo clearly visible.

My friend then called the newspaper's offices and complained about the disrespectful and impious picture, telling them that she talked to the ill-fated person whose face could be clearly recognized in the grim picture only hours before the crash. They simply answered that this was exactly what the general public likes to see and hung up on her.

I personally never knew any of the crew members of flight 3782 but know many of their friends and co-workers as I work along with them for over 10 years now.

Let us never forget the 16 passengers and crew members and hopefully their friends and family were able to cope with the loss over the past 20 years. I almost can't believe it's been that long.

May they all rest in peace.

Happy New Year 2008 and safe flying to everyone.

Best regards

L1011Lover (former Condor FA)

[Edited 2008-01-02 09:16:39]