Sabena Flight 548 Sabena Flight 548 Sabena Flight 548 was a Boeing 707-329 aircraft that crashed en route from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 1961. The flight, which had originated at Idlewild International Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), crashed on approach to Zaventem Airport, Brussels, killing all 72 people on board and one person on the ground. The fatalities included the entire U.S. Figure Skating team, who were travelling to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Despite a thorough investigation, the precise cause of the crash remains a mystery; the most likely explanation was thought
Air Zaïre other funds earned by Sabena in the country. Foreign ownership of the airline was eliminated at the same time, with the Congolese government holding a seventy percent share, the "Institut National Securite Sociale" holding eight percent, and local Congolese concerns holding the remainder. At the time, the fleet comprised two Douglas DC-6s, eight DC-4s, eleven DC-3s, two Curtiss C-46s, three Beech 18s, five Beech Barons, one Piper PA-23 Aztec and one Cessna 310. In 1967 the airline ordered two Sud Aviation Caravelles for delivery in October 1967 and the summer of 1968, and on 12 May 1967 a BAC One