In response to the illusion, the crew executed an overly steep and fast descent in the last phase of the final approach, causing a hard touchdown and breakage of the right wing.

The fuselage received a 2.1 m (6.9 ft) plug for greater passenger capacity and an auxiliary power unit in the tail.

The flight was transporting British tourists travelling on holiday to Rijeka, the third-largest city in SR Croatia.

The flight was uneventful despite poor weather conditions over Europe until the final approach to Rijeka Airport.

After establishing communication with Rijeka ATC, the controller on duty passed meteorological info to the crew and warned them about cumulonimbus clouds above the Učka mountain range.

Using their airborne radar, the crew managed to fly around the cumulonimbus, but were too high to catch the instrument landing system (ILS) glide slope.

The aircraft flew over the airport, returned to Breza non-directional beacon (BZ NDB) and caught the ILS glide path and localizer normally.

Approximately 3.2 km (2.0 mi) from the THR 14, 50 seconds before impact, the aircraft was carried upwards and rolled to the right[3] by the slight turbulence caused by the cumulonimbus.

[3] Above the middle marker, 1.2 km (0.75 mi) from THR 14 and 18 seconds before impact, engine power increased and up elevator was applied, meaning that the pilot initiated a go-around procedure.

[3] It touched down hard on RWY 14 at around 19:45, some 180 m (590 ft) before the proper approach touchdown point, right landing gear first, at 140 knots (260 km/h (160 mph)).

Panicked passengers attempted to evacuate from the burning wreckage, but the thick smoke and darkness (the electrical supply had shut off immediately after impact) made it extremely difficult.

The passenger doors may have been locked from inside by the panicked flight attendant by pushing the lever in the wrong direction because the aircraft was in an upside-down position.

Rescuers tried but were unable to open the doors, cut the fuselage with a chainsaw or break the cabin windows with axes.

Attempts to extinguish the flames were hindered by the rain and strong southern wind, which blew away the fire-smothering foam.

[3] The official report, released on 1 December 1973, found that as Flight 130 flew through the rain in dusk conditions, refraction of light on the cockpit windshield caused an optical illusion that made the runway seem closer and lower (by 60 m (200 ft)) than it actually was (see Fig.

[3] The illusion caused the crew to make a sharp correction applying nose-down input and reducing power to idle in the final phase of landing.