TAROM Flight 371

All 60 people on board the Airbus A310-324 named ‘Muntenia’ died when flight RO 371 of the Romanian airline TAROM crashed into a field and exploded just one and a half minutes after take-off from Bucharest airport on 31 March 1995. To this day, this tragedy remains the worst Romanian aviation disaster. Among the victims were 32 Belgians, including embassy staff, and Americans. Because there had been a bomb threat against the same flight only a short time before, a terrorist attack was suspected. Even the FBI investigated. In the end, however, it turned out that the crash was due to a chain of unfortunate circumstances. An already known technical fault combined with a number of other factors led to the catastrophe. With his usual meticulousness, aviation expert Patrick Huber has reconstructed this accident down to the smallest detail - and in doing so has also uncovered a dramatic family story. This book is rounded off by two chapters detailing the history of the airline involved, TAROM, and the development of the Airbus A310 aircraft type.