Sabena Flight 548 /

Sabena Flight 548, registration OO-SJB, was a Boeing 707 aircraft that crashed en route to Brussels, Belgium, from New York City on February 15, 1961, killing the entire United States Figure Skating team on its way to the 1961 World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The flight, which originated at Idlewild International Airport (New York International Airport, later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport), crashed on approach to Brussels' Zaventem Airport. All 72 on board were killed, as well as one person on the ground (the farmer Theo de Laet who was struck by debris). The crash was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 707 in regular passenger service, 28 months after it was placed into commercial use. There was no indication of trouble on board the plane until it approached the Brussels airport. The pilot had to circle the airport while waiting for a small plane to clear the runway. Then, according to eyewitnesses, the plane began to climb and bank erratically and crashed suddenly in a field near the hamlet of Berg. The wreckage burst into flames. All aboard were killed instantly. A farmer working in the fields was killed by a piece of aluminum shrapnel, and