Vincent Dekker is a retired Dutch investigative journalist of Dutch national newspaper Trouw.
Dekker wrote for newspaper Trouw for years about El Al Flight 1862. He wrote the book 'Going down going down' (1995). He participated in the documentary series 'Murky Skies' from Israelian documentary maker Noam Pinchas (2023). He advised and played a major role in the drama series Rampvlucht (2022), documentary Rampvlucht (2022) and podcast series Rampvlucht (2022).
In his view many things were wrong in the official investigation of the plane crash. He was opposed and even ridiculed during his research by multiple people and organizations and even colleagues. However, he continued his research on unanswered questions and continued writing about it. Partly because of his works, a parliamentary inquiry was launched in 1998. Up till now (2023) Dekker has not been able to solve any of the so called 'Bijlmer mysteries' from the past 30 years. Dekker has requested politicians to initiate the release of all files regarding the accident investigation from 1992 to the public, so that further research can be done.
El Al Flight 1862 investigation
On 4 October 1992, an Israeli cargo plane crashed in the Amsterdam Bijlmer: El Al Flight 1862.
On the basis of eye witness information Dekker started to reconstruct the crash from the 4th of October 1992. He published several articles in the daily newspaper Trouw. He raised questions about the crash and the investigation. He wrote that a water landing in a lake close to Amsterdam would have been a better decision by the crew that would have resulted in less casualties. He opposed the aviation experts that the main cause of the crash would have been a failure of the engine suspension system of the Boeing 747.
Dekker was supported in his own investigation by the ´Werkgroep Vliegverkeer Bijlmermeer´ to answer unanswered and unexplained questions. The Werkgroep was founded in November 1992, a month after the crash. The Werkgroep objected against the intensity of the air traffic over dense populated areas around Schiphol Airport. Dekker concluded on the basis of his own information that events contributing to the cause of the crash could not have developed as communicated by the officials during the accident investigation.
His articles caused concern at the level of the investigation board, Dutch politics and the Israelian government. They feared that the public might already jump to conclusions on the basis of daily newspaper articles before a thourough investigation could be done. Usually an investigation could take months or even years. He was opposed and even ridiculed during his research by people and organisations and even colleague journalists. Two years after the publication of the final accident report by the Dutch Aviation Safety Board (Raad voor de Luchtvaart) according ICAO Annex 13 at 24th of February 1994 (source x), Dekker published his book 'Going down Going down' (1995). With this book Dekker published his opinion about the true reason for the crash and how it could have been prevented.
Mainly because of his articles, from the mid of 1993 questions not directly related to the cause of the accident (such as airplane cargo, unidentified 'men in white suits' and health issues in the Bijlmermeer) started to play a major role in the Dutch media. Dekker started a co-operation with other journalists (mr Pierre Heijboer from the Volkskrant, Mr Joost Oranje from NRC and Rob de Lange from Zembla). He also developed connections with Mr. Rob van Gijzel, a Dutch Parliament Member that believed Dekker's version of events. Since frequent publications and questions kept coming up about dangers resulting from unrecoverd depleted uranium balance weights and cargo chemical substances that could have been a basis for developing nerve gasses in Israel, a Parliament Enquiry was launched in 1998.