The story of the biggest Hungarian air crash

On the 6^th of August, 1961, the MALÉV HA-TSA plane crashed into the top floor of the house at Lumumba Street (Róna Street today) 224 during its sixth sightseeing flight of the day. According to 444.hu, the crew of the plane, all of the passengers and three people in the house died. But what happened exactly? And how was it possible to go sightseeing on a plane?

Flying over residential areas is strictly controlled today, it is almost unimaginable to see a passenger plane fly above city at a low altitude (except for air bridges and special shows), but this used to be a completely normal spectacle a century ago. However, due to several accidents, the rules became more and more strict, severe with time.

Shortly after WWII Hungarian aerial traffic was relaunched, which mainly meant inland flights, thanks to which, people could get to Pécs, Szombathely or Debrecen in no time for the price of a bus ticket. What’s astounding is that getting on the plane was just as simple as getting on a bus or train, there were only minimal safety measures carried out.

The HA-TSA was born in the USA in 1943 as an original C-47, which later served near Munich in the American air force. One time the pilots missed their route and ended up violating the Hungarian and Romanian air space. Therefore Hungarian authorities feed the crew and expelled them from the country, but kept the C-47 despite the remonstrance of Washington. The Americans emphasised that the pilots got lost, however, it couldn’t be excluded that the plane came to “look around” since cases like this were common during the Cold War.

So the plane stayed in Hungary and got Soviet engines, thus turning it into a TS-62, which became the property of MALÉV (formed from MASZOVLET in 1954) in the July of 1956. That was when it received the HA-TSA registration mark, which referred to its type, but its operators called the vehicle “Tasa”. The plane took part in the popular Budapest pleasure-flights, which were 12 minute routes that started from Ferihegy. It meant that there were several planes circling above the city at the same time.