Date & Time: Nov 21, 1959
Type of aircraft:
Douglas DC-4
Operator:
Registration:
YA-BAG
Flight Phase:
Takeoff (climb)
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
London – Frankfurt – Beirut – Tehran – Kandahar – Kabul
MSN:
18367
YOM:
1944
Flight number:
FG202
Country:
Lebanon
Region:
Asia
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
22
Pax fatalities:
19
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
24
Circumstances:
The aircraft was performing a flight from London to Kabul with several intermediate stops. The stopover at Beirut was longer than expected because few technical issues were noted after the airplane landed from Frankfurt. The departure from Beirut was postponed for 20 hours. Two minutes after departure from runway 18, while climbing, the airplane struck the slope of Mt Aramoun located about 5 km south of the airfield and burst into flames. Three passengers were seriously injured while all 24 other occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
The accident was attributed to a combination of:
- A navigational error in that the pilot did not right turn out as early as he should have, either because he forgot or because he was distracted by some unusual occurrence,
- A fire indication (or possibly a fire) in the number one engine which induced the pilot to start fire emergency action with a resulting reduction in the rate of turn and the rate of climb.