Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

Last updated

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
PIA Boeing 720 at LHR 1964.jpg
A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 similar to the one involved in the accident
Accident
Date20 May 1965
Summary Controlled flight into terrain during approach; excessive descent - cause undetermined [1]
Sitenear Cairo International Airport, Egypt
30°07′19″N31°24′20″E / 30.12194°N 31.40556°E / 30.12194; 31.40556
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 720B
Operator Pakistan International Airlines
Registration AP-AMH
Flight origin Karachi Airport, Pakistan
2nd stopover Dhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia
3rd stopover Cairo International Airport, Egypt
Last stopover Geneva Airport, Switzerland
Destination London Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom
Occupants127
Passengers114
Crew13
Fatalities121
Injuries6
Survivors6

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. [2]

Contents

Accident

Wreaths laid at a memorial to the crash on 20 May 2013 by representatives from the Embassy of Pakistan to Egypt and local Pakistani community members PIA FLIGHT 705 2.jpg
Wreaths laid at a memorial to the crash on 20 May 2013 by representatives from the Embassy of Pakistan to Egypt and local Pakistani community members

Flight 705 on 20 May 1965 was an inaugural flight between Karachi, Pakistan and London, United Kingdom and was carrying distinguished guests and journalists among the 114 passengers. [3] The aircraft was scheduled to stop at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, Cairo and then Geneva before completing its journey to London. [3] As the aircraft was on final approach to Cairo International Airport, the pilot reported problems with the flaps; shortly thereafter, the aircraft crashed southeast of the airport and broke up as it exploded into flames. [3] Six of the passengers were thrown clear of the wreckage, but everyone else on board was killed. [3] Among the dead was the Chinese aircraft designer Huang Zhiqian, who was chief designer of the fighter jet Shenyang J-8. [4] [5]

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Boeing 720-040B [note 1] with the registration AP-AMH and manufacturer's serial number 18379; it was first flown on 19 October 1962 and delivered to Pakistan International Airlines on 7 November 1962. [6] At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 8378 hours. [6]

Investigation

On 26 May, local police reported that a transistor radio had been found in the wreckage of the aircraft with jewellery valued at $120,000 hidden in it. [7]

The probable cause of the crash was that "the aircraft did not maintain the adequate height for the circuit and continued to descend until it contacted the ground. The reason for that abnormal continuation of descent is unknown." [8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The aircraft was a Boeing 720B model; at the time this aircraft was built, Boeing assigned a unique code for each company that bought one of its aircraft, which was applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft was built, hence "720-040B".

Related Research Articles

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 1970.

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

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 1976.

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

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Nippon Airways Flight 58</span> 1971 mid-air collision over Japan

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740</span> 1979 aviation accident

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle East Airlines Flight 438</span> 1976 airliner bombing

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.

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

As of July 2020, a total of 60 Boeing 747 aircraft, or just under 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 60 Boeing 747 aircraft losses, 32 resulted in no loss of life; in one, a hostage was murdered; and in one, a terrorist died. Some of the aircraft that were declared damaged beyond economical repair were older 747s that sustained relatively minor damage. Had these planes been newer, repairing them might have been economically viable, although with the 747's increasing obsolescence, this is becoming less common. Some 747s have been involved in accidents resulting in the highest death toll of any civil aviation accident, the highest death toll of any single airplane accident, and the highest death toll of a midair collision. As with most airliner accidents, the root of cause(s) in these incidents involved a confluence of multiple factors that rarely could be ascribed to flaws with the 747's design or its flying characteristics.

Flight 705 may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan Air Lines Flight 472 (1972)</span> Plane crash in India

Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was a flight from London to Tokyo via Frankfurt, Rome, Beirut, Tehran, Bombay, Bangkok and Hong Kong. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at Juhu Aerodrome near Bombay, India instead of the city's much larger Santacruz Airport and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off after being damaged beyond economic repair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jinnah International Airport</span> International airport in Karachi, Pakistan

Jinnah International Airport, formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017–2018. Located in Karachi, the largest city and commercial capital of Pakistan and capital of the province of Sindh, it is named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the statesman founder of Pakistan. It is one of the oldest airports in the world.

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

The Boeing 720 was 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 few sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 1502</span> 1961 aviation accident

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.

References

  1. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 720-040B AP-AMH Cairo International Airport (CAI)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ↑ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  3. 1 2 3 4 "121 Killed in Desert Air Disaster – Pakistan Plane Crashed on new London Route". News. The Times. No. 56327. London. 20 May 1965. p. 14.
  4. ↑ Tao, Wu (9 April 2012). "大话航空强国梦（十五）：各领风骚数百年" [Talking about the dream of becoming a powerful country in aviation (15): Each has been leading the way for hundreds of years]. Carnoc (in Chinese). Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  5. ↑ 中国近代航空工业史 (1909–1949) [History of Modern Chinese Aviation Industry (1909–1949)] (in Chinese). China Aviation Industry Press. 2013. pp. 328–330. ISBN   978-7-5165-0261-7.
  6. 1 2 Pither 1998, p. 213
  7. ↑ "£43,000 Jewels in Airliner Wreck". News. The Times. No. 56332. London. 27 May 1965. p. 11.
  8. ↑ ICAO Circular 88-AN/74 (113–117)
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.