Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 22 January 1973 |
Summary | Landing gear collapse, bad weather |
Site | Kano International Airport (KAN), Nigeria 12°02′58″N8°31′15″E / 12.04944°N 8.52083°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 707-3D3C |
Aircraft name | Petra |
Operator | Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines on behalf of Nigeria Airways |
Registration | JY-ADO |
Flight origin | King Abdulaziz Int'l Airport, Jeddah |
Destination | Ikeja Int'l Airport, Lagos (now Murtala Muhammed Int'l Airport) |
Occupants | 202 |
Passengers | 193 |
Crew | 9 |
Fatalities | 176 |
Injuries | 25 |
Survivors | 26 |
On 22 January 1973, a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707 crashed at Kano International Airport while attempting to land in high winds. The crash killed 176 passengers and crew. There were 26 survivors. The crash remains the deadliest aviation disaster ever in Nigeria. [1]
The aircraft involved in the accident was a 2-year-old Boeing 707-3D3C, JY-ADO, owned by Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines, operating on behalf of Nigeria Airways. It first flew in 1971 and was powered by four Pratt and Whitney JT3D engines. [1] [2] The Captain of the flight was 53-year-old John Waterman, who had been flying for 22 years in the middle east and had accumulated 22,000 hours of flying experience. [3] [4] [5]
The Boeing 707, operated by Alia, had been chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly pilgrims back from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Lagos, Nigeria. Due to bad weather conditions at Lagos, the pilots had to divert the flight to Kano. [6] The pilots had to make a second landing attempt due to low visibility from haze and a harmattan. [3] [7] Kano International Airport was experiencing high winds at the time. The aircraft landed nose wheel first, and the nose wheel collapsed after hitting a depression in the runway. [8] The right main landing gear leg subsequently collapsed. The aircraft turned 180 degrees, left the runway and burst into flames.
Of the 202 passengers and crew on board, 176 died. At the time it was the deadliest aviation accident, [9] a distinction it only held for about 14 months until Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in France, killing 346 people. [10] The Kano aircraft crash was also the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Boeing 707 at the time until another Alia Royal Jordanian plane crashed in Morocco two years later. [11]
Royal Jordanian Airlines is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at Queen Alia International Airport, with over 500 flights per week and at least 110 daily departures. It joined the Oneworld airline alliance in 2007.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1973.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974. 1974 had been deemed as "the single worst year in airline history" although this has since been surpassed.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 2005.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 58 was a Japanese domestic flight from Chitose Airport to Haneda Airport, operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA). On 30 July 1971, at 02:04 local time, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-86F Sabre jet fighter collided with the Boeing 727 airliner operating the flight, causing both aircraft to crash. All 162 people aboard the airliner were killed, while the Sabre pilot, a trainee with the JASDF, freed himself from his airplane after the collision and parachuted to safety. This incident led to the resignation of both the head of Japan's Defense Agency and the JASDF chief of staff.
Nigeria Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Nigeria Airways, was a one-time Nigerian airline. The company was founded in 1958 after the dissolution of West African Airways Corporation (WAAC). It held the name West African Airways Corporation Nigeria until 1971, when it was renamed, until it ceased operations in 2003. The government of Nigeria owned a majority of the airline (51%) until 1961, when it boosted its shareholding in the company to 100% and made it the country's flag carrier. At the time of dissolution, the airline's headquarters were at Airways House in Abuja. Operations were concentrated at Murtala Muhammed International Airport and served both domestic and international destinations mainly concentrated in West Africa; the network also had points in Europe, North America and Saudi Arabia. The airline was managed by a number of foreign companies, including British Airways, KLM and South African Airways.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740 was a Hajj pilgrimage flight from Kano, Nigeria to Karachi, Pakistan with an intermediate stopover in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Operated by Pakistan International Airlines, on 26 November 1979, the Boeing 707-340C serving the route crashed shortly after takeoff from Jeddah International Airport. All 156 people on board were killed.
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport is an international airport serving Kano, the capital city of Kano State of Nigeria. It was a Royal Air Force station before the country became independent. It is the main airport serving northern Nigeria and was named after the 20th-century politician Aminu Kano. The airport has an international and a domestic terminal. Construction started on a new domestic terminal and was commissioned on 23 May 2011. In 2009, the airport handled 323,482 passengers. The bulk of international flights cater to the large Sudanese community in Kano and Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 60 was a Boeing 727-81 aircraft making a domestic commercial flight in Japan from Sapporo Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda International Airport. On February 4, 1966, all 133 people on board died when the plane mysteriously crashed into Tokyo Bay about 10.4 km from Haneda in clear weather conditions while on a night approach. The accident was the worst involving a single aircraft in Japan and also the deadliest accident in the country until All Nippon Airways Flight 58 crashed five years later, killing 162 people.
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On 20 November 1969, Nigeria Airways Flight 925, a Vickers VC10 aircraft, crashed while on approach to Lagos International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria killing all 87 people on board.
Nigeria Airways Flight 9805 was a cargo flight from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria. On 19 December 1994, the Boeing 707-3F9C flying the route suffered an in-flight fire and crashed into a marshland near Kiri Kasama, Hadejia LGA, Nigeria. One of the three crew members and both passengers died. The investigation determined that a heat generating substance was the probable cause.
Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport in Leningrad. On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. At the time, it was the world's deadliest civil aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in Nigeria in 1973. As of 2023, the crash of Flight 217 remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.
The 1973 Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crash occurred on December 22, 1973, when a Sobelair Sud Aviation Caravelle SE-210 crashed near Tangier, Morocco. All 106 people on board were killed.
American Airlines Flight 1502 was a crew training flight from Idlewild International Airport. On January 28, 1961, the Boeing 707 operating the flight crashed out of control into the Atlantic Ocean 9.5 miles (15.3 km) west of Montauk Point, New York, and all six crew on board were killed. The cause of the crash was never officially determined. Flight 1502 would be the second of three 707s that American lost in a three-year period in the New York area.
Trans-Air Service Flight 671 was a cargo flight from Luxembourg Airport to Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria. While flying over France on 31 March 1992, the Boeing 707 operating the flight experienced an in-flight separation of two engines on its right wing. Despite the damage to the aircraft, the pilots were able to perform an emergency landing at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in Istres, France. All five occupants of the aircraft survived; the aircraft was damaged beyond repair due to a fire on the right wing.
On 13 October 1976, a Boeing 707-131F, a chartered cargo aircraft operated for Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB) crashed shortly after takeoff at El Trompillo Airport, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, into a residential neighbourhood. All three crew on board were killed, along with 88 other fatalities on the ground, bringing the total up to 91. It is the deadliest air disaster to happen on Bolivian soil.