View source for Pan Am Flight 708

{{Short description|1966 aviation accident}}
{{ref improve|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name            = Pan Am Flight 708
| Date            = November 15, 1966
| Type            = [[Controlled flight into terrain]]; cause unknown
| image           = Pan Am 727 (6060659026).jpg
| image_upright   = 1.15
| caption         = A Pan Am Boeing 727-21 similar to the one involved. This aircraft would later crash as [[Avianca Flight 410]]
| Site            = Near [[Dallgow-Döberitz]], [[Germany]]
| Fatalities      = 3
| Survivors       = 0
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 727#727-100|Boeing 727-21]]
| Operator        = [[Pan American World Airways]]
| callsign        = CLIPPER 708
| tail_number     = N317PA
| origin          = [[Frankfurt Airport]], [[Frankfurt]], West Germany
| aircraft_name   = ''Clipper München''
| destination     = [[Berlin Tegel Airport]], [[Berlin]], British Sector
| occupants       = 3
| Passengers      = 0
| Crew            = 3|
}}
'''Pan Am Flight 708''' (PA 708) was a cargo flight that crashed on initial approach less than {{convert|10|mi|km|abbr=on}} west-southwest of its destination airport, [[Berlin Tegel]] in Germany, in the early morning hours of November 15, 1966. The flight was operated by a [[Pan American World Airways]] (Pan Am) [[Boeing 727#727-100|Boeing 727-21]], [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|N|317PA|,}} name ''Clipper München'', routing from [[Frankfurt Airport]]. All three crew members perished. The cause was undetermined because [[United States|US]] investigators were not allowed to survey the impact site at a Soviet military training ground near [[Dallgow-Döberitz|Dallgow]] in what was then [[East Germany]], and only half of the aircraft remains were returned by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military authorities in East Germany to their US counterparts in former [[West Berlin]].

==Flight details==
Flight 708 usually landed at [[Tempelhof International Airport|Tempelhof Airport]]. But because of runway maintenance at Tempelhof, Pan Am shifted its flights to [[Berlin Tegel Airport|Tegel Airport]]. At the time of the accident, weather was poor and it was snowing.

The Soviet authorities returned about 50% of the wreckage. Some major components were not returned, including the [[flight data recorder|flight data]] and [[cockpit voice recorder]]s, flight control systems, navigation and communication equipment. 

At the time of the crash, the [[Soviet Union]] did not belong to the [[International Civil Aviation Organization]] (ICAO).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1968-06-27 |title=Blocked crash site by Soviets berated |website=The Victoria Advocate |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Bf5ZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CEsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4677,3628975&dq=pan+am+berlin+crash&hl=en |access-date=2022-09-25 |via=Google News}}</ref> Nations belonging to ICAO allow reciprocal visits by official observers in order to improve aviation safety.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/15/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=22245&key=0 Aviation query], National Transportation Safety Board
* {{ASN accident|id=19661115-0}}
*[https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=N52+30+02++E13+02+28 Satellite image of crash location] Google Maps
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pan Am Flight 0708}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1966}}
{{Pan Am}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany}}
{{Soviet Union–United States relations|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1966]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in East Germany]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727]]
[[Category:Pan Am accidents and incidents|708]]
[[Category:1966 in East Germany]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–United States relations]]
[[Category:1960s in West Berlin]]
[[Category:November 1966 in Europe]]