Bombing | |
---|---|
Date | 1 January 1976 |
Summary | Terrorist bombing |
Site | 37 km (23 mi) NW of Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 720-023B |
Operator | Middle East Airlines |
Registration | OD-AFT |
Flight origin | Beirut International Airport |
Stopover | Abu Dhabi International Airport |
Destination | Muscat International Airport |
Passengers | 66 |
Crew | 15 |
Fatalities | 81 |
Injuries | 0 |
Survivors | 0 |
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]
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 720-023B (serial number 18020 and serial 165). Its first flight was on 23 September 1960. The aircraft was registered as N7534A and was delivered to American Airlines on 10 October the same year. In July 1971, American Airlines sold the aircraft for repair. 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 each. [2] [3] [4]
Flight ME438 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 [5] ) 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] [6]
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. [7] [ unreliable source? ]
An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, and in which (a) a person is fatally or seriously injured, (b) the aircraft sustains significant damage or structural failure, or (c) the aircraft goes missing or becomes completely inaccessible. Annex 13 defines an aviation incident as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operation.
China Airlines Flight 611 (CI611/CAL611) was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong.
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 was the deadliest crash in Benin's aviation history.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1976.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1977.
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.
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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.
Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940, operated by Mexicana de Aviación, was a scheduled international flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles with stopovers in Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán on March 31, 1986, utilizing a Boeing 727-200 registered as XA-MEM, when the plane crashed into El Carbón, a mountain in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range northwest of Mexico City, killing everyone on board. With 167 deaths, the crash of Flight 940 is the deadliest aviation disaster ever to occur on Mexican soil, and the deadliest involving a Boeing 727.
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.
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.
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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.
Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline of Ethiopia, has a good safety record. As of March 2019, the Aviation Safety Network records 64 accidents/incidents for Ethiopian Airlines that total 459 fatalities since 1965, plus six accidents for Ethiopian Air Lines, the airline's former name. Since July 1948, the company wrote off 36 aircraft, including three Boeing 707s, three Boeing 737s, one Boeing 767, two Douglas DC-3s, two Douglas DC-6, one de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo, two de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, 21 subtypes of the Douglas C-47, one Lockheed L-749 Constellation and one Lockheed L-100 Hercules.
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.
Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600 was a scheduled passenger flight from Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan, to Seeb International Airport, Muscat, Oman, via Doha International Airport in Qatar. On 14 March 1979 it was being operated by a Boeing 727-2D3 jet airliner registered in Jordan as JY-ADU when, while carrying out a missed approach to Runway 34 at Doha at night, it flew into a thunderstorm, causing the aircraft to drop 750 feet (230 m) into the ground. Sixty-four people were on board; of the 15 crew four died and two were seriously injured and 41 passengers were killed and six seriously injured; the aircraft was destroyed.