Cargo

The aircraft departed from Cambridge, England, about mid-morning on 9 April 1968, and landed at Benina, where a night stop was made. The flight was continued on 10 April, with landings at Entebbe and Lusaka, where government-owned cargo was unloaded. On 11 April, the aircraft was due to be ferried to its normal base at Ndda, but the Air Turbine Motor (A.T.M) was found to be unserviceable. As the fault could not be ascertained and spares were not available, external power was used for initial engine start and all pre-taxi and taxi checks were carried out satisfactorily. On reaching the take-off holding point, reverse thrust checks were carried out and on returning to ground idle on No. 2 engine, the nacelle overheat light came on. On pulling the fire shut-off handle on No. 2 engine, the overheat light went out immediately. The Flight Engineer carried out a visual inspection of the engine and reported that there were no visible signs of fire. It was assumed that the overheat warning had been due to the tail wind and reverse thrust check, a possible occurrence under the prevailing conditions. A dry motorover was carried out to reduce Turbine Inlet Temperature (T.1.T) and a restart made. All indications were normal and a further reverse thrust check was carried out on engines 2 arid 3. All readinge were normal. The normal checks were carried out, engine run-up and pre-take-off checks made and the Captain briefed the crew regarding emergency in flight procedures. The take-off was completed and the flight to Ndola was without incident and, except for the A.T.M., all systems functioned normally. On approaching -Ndola, the "field approach check and the "pre-landing check" were carried out. According to the statement of the Flight Engineer, all.systems were normal. A normal landing was made, using reverse thrust on all four engines. Towards the end of the taxi run, the First Officer advised the Captain that: "Now we have no ATM". The Captain gave orders to cut engines 1 and 4 when on the perimeter track and the aircraft proceeded on engines 2 and 3. On reaching the parking area, a right turn was commenced to enter the area. Shortly after this point, both co-pilot and engineer claim to have advised the Captain that No. 2 engine nacelle overheat warning light was on. The Captain momentarily considered whether the warning was genuine or spurious, decided to accept that it was genuine and called for No. 2 "Fire T. Handle" to be pulled on No. 2 engine was then shut down. When No. 2 engine was shut down, the aircraft was being marshalled and was commencing a turn to the left and approaching a parked Hercules aircraft, 9J-RBX, approximately 100 ft ahead. It was the intention that aircraft 9J-RCY be parked alongside 9J-RBX. Aircraft 9J-RCY was approaching the port side of 9J-RBX at an angle of about 45°, and was in the final turn to park alongside 9J-RBX when steering and brake pressures became exhausted. The nose wheel castored, this being seen by the ground crew around 9J-RBX, and 9J-RCY straightened up and collided with the port wing of 9J-RBX, No. 3 engine propeller cutting through some 12 ft of the wing. Fire broke out immediately

Shortly after takeoff from Panama City-Tocumen Airport, while in initial climb, the four engine stalled and crashed in a huge explosion near the runway end. The aircraft was destroyed and all three crew members were killed.

The takeoff warning horn sounded shortly after commencing takeoff from runway 09R. The takeoff was continued as the crew tried to figure out what caused the warning. The horn ceased prior to reaching rotate speed. The stick shaker came on and thrust was added, but the aircraft failed to climb and the captain elected to discontinue the takeoff. The 727 settled back to the macadam shoulder off the right side of the runway and struck a ditch, coming to rest 1,100 feet beyond the runway end and 300 feet right of the extended centreline. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and all three crew members were injured. The flaps had been set at 2° instead of takeoff range of 5°-25°.

While on a cargo flight from Guayaquil to Arica, the crew encountered marginal weather conditions when the airplane struck the slope of Mt Maldito (3,501 meters high) located in the region of Tacna, Peru. The wreckage was found a month later, on April 16. All four crew members have been killed.

The airplane departed Tbilisi Airport at 1039LT on a cargo flight to Yerevan, carrying five crew members and a load of various goods for a total weight of 2,394 kilos. The assigned altitude of 3,000 meters was reached 17 minutes later and the crew continued to the south under VFR mode. The airplane passed over Idzhevan VOR at 1108LT and six minutes later, the crew was cleared to descent to 1,800 meters by the approach ATC. Between 1116LT and 1119LT, the crew reported twice that the weather conditions deteriorated with low clouds and requested the permission to return to Tbilisi under VFR at 3,000 meters. A minute later, while cruising at the altitude of 2,265 meters, the left wing struck the west slope of Mt Getantag. The airplane continued for 130 meters then crashed in flames. The flight engineer was seriously injured while four other occupants were killed. Few hours later, the only survivor died from his injuries.

While completing a regional cargo flight, the crew informed ATC about an in-flight fire and was cleared to divert to Salisbury-Rowan County Airport for an emergency landing. On approach, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in flames few dozen miles short of runway. The passenger and a pilot were seriously injured while the second pilot was killed.

Shortly after takeoff from Statesville Airport, while in initial climb, the left engine failed. The pilot-in-command reduced power on the right engine and attempted an emergency landing in an open field. While all four occupants escaped uninjured, the airplane was damaged beyond repair.

While performing a cargo flight, the crew encountered poor weather conditions. The captain decided to make a 180 turn to gain height when the twin engine aircraft struck the slope of a mountain located near Park City. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and both occupants were killed.

On final approach to Port Harcourt Airport, the four engine aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances few hundred yards short of runway threshold. All five occupants were killed. They were completing a cargo mission on behalf of the Government of Biafra.

The aircraft was to perform a non-scheduled international cargo flight from Cairo to Beirut. Before departure the operator's chief of the ground operations shift informed the pilot-in-command of the aircraft that bad weather was prevailing both on the route Cairo to Beirut and at Beirut Airport, and that the weather conditions had been confirmed by the crew of another aircraft who had arrived from Beirut at 0200 hours local time. The pilot-in-command then went to the weather office and was again informed that the weather en route was very bad with low and medium altitude clouds, including some cumulonimbus extending from 550 m to 8 500 m, and that moderate to severe icing and turbulence within these clouds were highly probable. He was also informed that a SIGMET had been issued at 0115 hours (see 1.7 below). Back at the operator's ground operations office he obtained once more all necessary weather information, including copies of two SIGMETS issued by Cairo and Beirut respectively and decided to delay his departure until 0700 hours expecting some weather improvement. Although the aircraft had no de-icing equipment, it departed Cairo at 0721 hours and at 0735 hours the crew reported at EL 70 to Cairo Approach. Eight minutes later they reported over Zif ta Beacon at the same flight level and were then instructed by Cairo Approach to contact Area Control. At 0745 hours they contacted and informed Cairo Control that they would return to Cairo due to icing. Shortly thereafter they repeated that message adding that there was some ice accretion on the aircraft. This was the last message from the aircraft. At 1020 hours Cairo ACC received a message that the aircraft had crashed 5 km SE of A1 Mahalla-Al Kobra. All four occupants were killed.