Jeddah

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

MSN:

18582/344

YOM:

1963

Location:

Jeddah

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The aircraft sustained substantial damages and was later withdrawn from use following a heavy landing at Jeddah Airport. There were no injuries.

Crash of a Boeing 707-340C near At Ta'if: 156 killed

Date & Time: Nov 26, 1979 at 0204 LT

Type of aircraft:

Boeing 707

Operator:

Registration:

AP-AWZ

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Desert

Schedule:

Kano - Jeddah - Karachi

MSN:

20275/844

YOM:

1970

Flight number:

PK740

Location:

At Ta'if

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

145

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

156

Aircraft flight hours:

30710

Circumstances:

The airplane was completing a schedule service from Kano to Karachi with an intermediate stop at Jeddah, carrying 145 passengers and a crew of 11. It departed Jeddah-King Abdulaziz Airport at 0129LT and continued to climb by night and good weather conditions. While cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet, the captain informed ATC about an in-flight fire and was cleared to descent to 30,000 feet then 4,000 feet at his discretion. Seventeen minutes later, the situation on board became very critical with heavy smoke spreading in the cabin and the crew declared an emergency. While attempting an emergency landing in a desert area, the airplane struck the ground and disintegrated on impact. The wreckage was found about 48 km north of At Ta'if, in a rocky area. None of the 156 occupants survived the crash.

Probable cause:

An in-flight fire in the cabin area which, through its intensity and rapid extension, resulted in panic among the passengers and smoke in the cockpit, eventually incapacitating the flight crew. The cause of the cabin fire was not determined. It was considered that the origin of the cabin fire could have been a leaking gasoline or kerosene stove, carried aboard by Haj pilgrim passengers. Pressure differential could have caused a poorly sealed gasket to leak fuel. A second possibility is an electrical fire, but the rapid extension of the fire was considered difficult to explain because of the electrical circuit protection devices of the Boeing 707. Sabotage was considered as another possibility, but no evidence of use of an incendiary device was found.

Crash of a Learjet 35 in Egypt: 5 killed

Date & Time: Aug 11, 1979

Type of aircraft:

Learjet 35

Operator:

Bahri Aviation

Registration:

N711AF

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Delivery

Survivors:

Site:

Desert

Schedule:

Athens - Jeddah

MSN:

35-029

YOM:

1975

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

En route from Athens to Jeddah on a delivery flight, the twin engine airplane went out of control and crashed in unknown circumstances in a desert area in Egypt. SAR operations were quickly initiated but eventually abandoned after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the five occupants was found. On 6 March 1987, the wreckage was found about 100 km south of Katab.

Crash of a Douglas DC-8-63CF in Colombo: 183 killed

Date & Time: Nov 15, 1978 at 2330 LT

Type of aircraft:

Douglas DC-8

Operator:

Registration:

TF-FLA

Flight Phase:

Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Western Province (மேல் மாகாணம்)

Schedule:

Jeddah - Colombo - Surabaya

MSN:

46020/415

YOM:

1968

Flight number:

LL001

Location:

Colombo-Bandaranaike

Country:

Sri Lanka

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

249

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

183

Circumstances:

The four engine airplane was chartered by Garuda Indonesia Airways to fly back to Surabaya 249 Indonesian pilgrims who were returning home following a 'haj' in Mecca. Following an uneventful flight, the crew was cleared to descend from FL330 to FL220 then was informed that runway 04 was in use. The captain requested a runway 22 landing and was cleared for. On final approach by night, while at an altitude of 650 feet, the crew was cleared to land on runway 22, a clearance that was acknowledged by the crew. Few seconds later, the approach controller realized that the aircraft was too low and tried to contact the crew. Unfortunately, this was not possible as the crew already switched to the tower frequency. On short final, the airplane struck tree tops and crashed in a huge explosion in a coconut grove located 2,1 km short of runway 22 threshold. 79 occupants were rescued while 183 others were killed, among them eight crew members. The aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the accident was the consequence of the combination of the following factors:
- The flight crew's failure to conform to the laid down approach procedures,
- The crew failed to check and utilize all instruments available for altitude and descent rate awareness,
- The copilot failed to provide the captain with the required altitude and sink rate call-outs at the various levels,
- The captain failed to initiate a missed approach procedure at the appropriate height when the runway was not in sight,
- The sink rate was very excessive during most part of the descent,
- There is a possibility that the radio altimeter bug on the captain's panel had been erroneously set at 150' which resulted in the captain being deprived of the warning light of the altimeter and of the audiovisual warnings of the GPWS as the break-off altitude of 250' which he had intended to set,
- Contributing to the accident was the fact that there was a down draught of the wind which probably rendered recovery more difficult when the captain realized that the aircraft had descended too low and called for maximum power to overshoot.

Final Report:

Crash of a Volpar Super Turboliner 18 in Jeddah

Date & Time: Jul 19, 1978

Type of aircraft:

Volpar Turboliner 18

Operator:

Registration:

HB-GGG

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Spraying (Agricultural)

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

MSN:

AF-357

YOM:

1953

Location:

Jeddah

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

Crashed in unknown circumstances in Jeddah.

Crash of a Douglas DC-10-30CF in Istanbul

Date & Time: Jan 2, 1976 at 0636 LT

Type of aircraft:

Douglas DC-10

Operator:

Registration:

N1031F

Flight Phase:

Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Marmara Region (Marmara Bölgesi)

Schedule:

Jeddah - Ankara

MSN:

46825

YOM:

1973

Flight number:

SV5130

Location:

Istanbul-Yeşilköy

Country:

Turkey

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

364

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

9848

Circumstances:

Leased by Saudi Arabian Airlines, the aircraft was completing a charter flight (hajj flight) from Jeddah to Ankara. En route, the crew was informed about poor weather conditions in Ankara (limited visibility due to foggy conditions) and was instructed to divert to Istanbul-Yeşilköy Airport. On approach to runway 24, the copilot informed the captain that one of the VASI's light was red and that their altitude was insufficient. The captain increased engine power but the aircraft continued to descent until it struck the ground eight meters short of the concrete runway. On impact, the left engine (n°1) was torn off and both left main gear and central gear were also torn off when the airplane struck the shoulder of the first runway's concrete block. The aircraft slid on its belly for few hundred meters, veered to the left and came to rest in flames in a grassy area. All 376 occupants were quickly evacuated, among them 10 were slightly injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Probable cause:

The crew reported the runway in sight while passing the local NDB about 600 feet below the published minimums. The descent was completed below the glide slope. There were strong evidences that the first officer's altitude callouts were from the radio-altimeter, which was considered as a contributing factor.

Final Report:

Crash of an Ilyushin II-18D off Jeddah: 9 killed

Date & Time: Dec 9, 1974 at 1915 LT

Type of aircraft:

Ilyushin II-18

Operator:

Registration:

YR-IMK

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Ferry

Survivors:

Site:

Lake, Sea, Ocean, River

Schedule:

Jeddah - Cairo

MSN:

186 0091 04

YOM:

1966

Location:

Jeddah

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The aircraft completed several rotations from Cairo to Jeddah and back on a pilgrim charter program on behalf of Egyptair. The four engine airplane departed Jeddah-King Abdulaziz Airport at 1905LT on a ferry flight to Cairo, carrying nine crew members, six technical crew from TAROM and three stewardesses from Egyptair. 10 minutes after takeoff, while climbing by night and good weather conditions, the airplane went out of control and crashed into the Red Sea about 20 km northwest of Djeddah. The aircraft was lost and all nine occupants were killed.
Crew:
Ion Mihai Vasilescu, pilot,
Răzvan Ionescu, copilot,
Constantin Duschel, navigator,
Coman Stoia, flight engineer,
Justina Constantinescu, radio operator,
Ion Popescu, flight officer + 3 stewardesses.

Crash of a Boeing 707-3D3C in Kano: 176 killed

Date & Time: Jan 22, 1973 at 0930 LT

Type of aircraft:

Boeing 707

Operator:

Registration:

JY-ADO

Flight Phase:

Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Jeddah - Lagos

MSN:

20494/850

YOM:

1971

Location:

Kano

Country:

Nigeria

Region:

Africa

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

193

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

176

Circumstances:

The aircraft was completing a charter flight from Jeddah to Lagos on behalf of Nigeria Airways, carrying Nigerian pilgrims flying back home. En route, the crew was informed about bad weather in Lagos and was rerouted to Kano-Mallam Aminu Kano Airport. On final approach, the pilot-in-command encountered mist when during the last segment, control was lost. The airplane nosed down and struck the runway surface with its nose gear first. On impact, the nose gear collapsed then both main gears touched the ground and punctured the fuel tanks. Out of control, the airplane skidded on runway, lost its both left engines then made a 180 turn before coming to rest in flames. Three crew members and 23 passengers were rescued while 176 other occupants were killed. The aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire. Up to date, this was the worst plane crash in History.

Probable cause:

The exact cause of the accident remain unclear. Nevertheless, it is believed that control was lost on short final due to wake turbulences and the aircraft adopted a nose-down attitude before crashing onto the runway.

Crash of a Douglas DC-9-32 in Aden: 30 killed

Date & Time: Mar 19, 1972

Type of aircraft:

Douglas DC-9

Operator:

Registration:

YU-AHR

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site: