Middle East Airlines Flight 438

Last updated

Middle East Airlines Flight 438
Boeing 720-023B, Middle East Airlines (MEA) JP5943303.jpg
OD-AFS, a sister ship of the incident aircraft, photographed in July 1977.
Bombing
Date1 January 1976 (1976-01-01)
SummaryTerrorist bombing
Site37 km (23 mi) NW of Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 720-023B
Operator Middle East Airlines
IATA flight No.ME438
ICAO flight No.MEA438
Call signCEDAR JET438
Registration OD-AFT
Flight origin Beirut International Airport, Lebanon
Stopover Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates
Destination Muscat International Airport, Oman
Occupants81
Passengers66
Crew15
Fatalities81
Survivors0

Middle East Airlines Flight 438 was an international passenger flight operated by a Boeing 720 from Beirut, Lebanon, to Muscat, Oman, with a stopover in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On 1 January 1976, the aircraft operating the flight was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 81 people on board. The bombers were never identified. [1]

Contents

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 720-023B (serial number 18020 and serial 165). It first flew on 23 September 1960. The aircraft was registered as N7534A and was delivered to American Airlines on 10 October. In July 1971, American Airlines sold the aircraft back to lessor. On 3 March 1972, the aircraft was sold to Middle East Airlines where it was re-registered as OD-AFT. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1-MC7 turbofan engines with water cooling and a thrust of 17,000 pounds-force (76 kN) each. [2] [ unreliable source? ]

Bombing

Flight 438 was an international passenger flight from Beirut, Lebanon to Muscat, Oman, with a stopover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With 15 crew members and 66 passengers (other sources stated that there were 67 passengers [3] ) on board, flight 438 departed from Beirut. In the predawn twilight, the airliner was en route from Beirut to Dubai when at 05:30, 1 hour and 40 minutes after departure, a bomb exploded in the front section of the cargo hold. The aircraft broke up at an altitude of 11,300 metres (37,100 ft) and crashed 37 km (23 mi) northwest of Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia. The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Saudi Arabia at the time, and is now the sixth-deadliest. It is also the second-deadliest aviation disaster involving the Boeing 720, behind Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705. [1] [4]

Investigation

According to several reports, the bomb was planted on board by Omani militants. The bomb timer was set so that the bomb would explode after landing at Muscat airport. Killing the passengers was not the goal of the militants. Flight 438 was originally going to be operated by a Boeing 747, but a technical malfunction was discovered, requiring a Boeing 720 to be used instead. Boarding and baggage loading delayed the flight, causing the bomb to explode early while the aircraft was still cruising.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation accidents and incidents</span> Accidental aviation occurences

An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that causes serious injury, death, or destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not progress to an aviation accident. Preventing accidents and incidents is the main goal of aviation safety.

Pakistan International Airlines is an international airline which is the government-owned flag carrier of Pakistan. Its primary hub is Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, while Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore and Islamabad International Airport serve as secondary hubs.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1980.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTA Flight 141</span> 2003 aviation accident in Benin

UTA Flight 141 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Guinean regional airline Union des Transports Africains de Guinée, flying from Conakry to Dubai with stopovers in Benin, Libya and Lebanon. On 25 December 2003, the Boeing 727–223 operating the flight struck a building and crashed into the Bight of Benin while rolling for take off from Cotonou, killing 141 people. The crash of Flight 141 is the deadliest crash in Benin's aviation history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Air Flight 771</span> 1983 airliner bombing

Gulf Air Flight 771 was a flight from Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On 23 September 1983, while the Boeing 737-2P6 was on approach to Abu Dhabi International Airport, a bomb planted by Palestinian nationalist militant group, Abu Nidal Organization, exploded in the baggage compartment. The plane crashed in the desert near Jebel Ali between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE. All five crew members and 107 passengers died. To date, it is the deadliest air disaster in the history of the United Arab Emirates along with Sterling Airways Flight 296 which also killed 112 in 1972.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 in aviation</span>

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1971.

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 1976.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1977.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1996:

Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L., more commonly known as Middle East Airlines (MEA), is the flag carrier of Lebanon, with its head office in Beirut, near Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. It operates scheduled international flights to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa from its base at Rafic Hariri International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705</span> 1965 aviation accident

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 127 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103</span> 1981 aviation accident

Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 was a flight from Taiwan Taipei Songshan Airport to Kaohsiung International Airport that crashed on 22 August 1981, killing all 110 people on board. The Boeing 737-222 aircraft disintegrated in midair and crashed in the township of Sanyi, Miaoli. It is also called the Sanyi Air Disaster. The crash is the third-deadliest aviation accident on the Taiwanese soil, behind China Airlines Flight 676 and China Airlines Flight 611.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing 747 hull losses</span>

As of December 2024, a total of 64 Boeing 747 aircraft, or just above 4% of the total number of 747s built, first flown commercially in 1970, have been involved in accidents and incidents resulting in a hull loss, meaning that the aircraft was either destroyed or damaged beyond economical repair. Of the 64 Boeing 747 aircraft losses, 32 resulted in no loss of life; in one, a hostage was murdered; and in one, a terrorist died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing 720</span> 1959 airliner series by Boeing

The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959. Its type certificate was issued on June 30, 1960, and it entered service with United Airlines on July 5, 1960. A total of 154 Boeing 720s and 720Bs were built until 1967. As a derivative, the 720 had low development costs, allowing profitability despite relatively few sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600</span> 1979 aviation accident in Qatar

Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan, to Seeb International Airport, Muscat, Oman, via Doha International Airport in Qatar. On 14 March 1979, the flight, carrying 49 passengers and 15 crew members, was being operated by a Boeing 727 when, while carrying out a missed approach to Runway 33 at Doha at night, it flew into a thunderstorm, causing the aircraft to drop 750 feet (230 m) into the ground killing 41 passengers and 4 crew. The crash remains the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Qatar.

References

  1. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 720-023B OD-AFT Al Qaysumah". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Registration Details For N7534A (American Airlines) 720-023". PlaneLogger. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Crash of a Boeing 720 in Al Qaysumah: 82 killed". B3A Aircraft Accidents Archives. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Gero, David (29 May 2009). "1960s". Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950. The History Press. ISBN   978-0-7524-9992-5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.