Date: December 12th 1934
Type: Douglas DC-2-115A
Registration: PH-AJU
Operator: KLM
Where: In the desert 16 km south of Rutbah Wells
Report No.-
Report Date: -
Pages: -

PH-AJU Douglas DC-2-115A KLM, named "Uiver". 19.12.34 near Rutbah Wells (Syria) on a non-scheduled flight from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Batavia (Netherlands East-Indies, now Jakarta, Indonesia).

The aircraft departed short after midnight from Schiphol on a special so-called 'christmas' flight to Batavia with post and 3 passengers. On the Cairo (Egypt)- Bagdad (Iraq) route it was missed. On 21.12, the Douglas was found, completely destroyed and burned, by a RAF-pilot, in the desert 16 km south of Rutbah Wells. All 4 cockpit-crew and 3 passengers were killed. From the investigation was found that the aircraft hit the ground with normal cruise speed, it was trimmed for horizontal flight. The weather during the impact was very bad. During the investigation, the bad flying characteristics of the DC-2 during heavy rain were suspected. Some test- flights were performed with changed vertical tail- plane and rudder.

This aircraft was one of the 20 participants in the MacPherson Robertson London-Melbourne race during 10.34. The "Uiver" made its famous forced landing on a racing track in Albury (Australia), but managed to win the handicap race. The flight of 12.34 was the first commercial flight for KLM the aircraft made, after arrival in mid 34 as the first DC-2 in the Netherlands and after the participation in the London- Melbourne race. The Uiver was very popular during that time in the Netherlands and its crash shocked the whole country.