The crash of a Boeing 720 near Cairo

Boeing 720-040B with serial number 18379 and serial 321 was released in 1962 and on October 19 made its first flight. In November, the airliner received airworthiness certificate No. 286 and flight number AP-AMH, after which it was sold to Pakistan International Airlines ^[1] . Its four turbofan engines were the Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B ^[2] .

Flight crew

• The aircraft commander is Ali Akhtar Khan. 37 years, a total flight time of 13,142 hours, including 10,395 hours as a commander, including 2,214 hours on Boeing aircraft. Over the past three months I haven’t flown to Cairo, and the flying time for this period is 162 hours, all on a Boeing 720 ^[3] .
• Co - pilot - Afzal Johari
• Navigator Instructor - Khalid Zia Lodhi
• Flight Instructor - Chief Flt Eng Yasin
• Flight Engineer - Eng Shafiq

Cabin crew

• Senior Stewardess - Jilani
• Senior Stewardess - Masood
• Stewardesses
  • Momi gul durrani
  • Mahmooda
  • Nasima
  • Mahfoozul Bhuiyan
  • Alavi
• Flight Manager - Jimmy Mirza

The aircraft performed a regular passenger flight PK-705 from Karachi ( Pakistan ) to London ( United Kingdom ) with intermediate landings in Dahran ( Saudi Arabia ), Cairo ( Egypt ) and Geneva ( Switzerland ). On May 19 at 18:00 ^{[* 1]} (23:00 local time), flight 705 departed from Jinnah (Karachi) airport and soon arrived safely at Dahran airport . In Dahran, the crew did not report any technical problems. At 21:22, with 13 crew members and 114 passengers on board, the airliner flew from Dahran to Cairo. The flight went without deviations - and at 11:15 p.m., after passing on the echelon 360 (11 km) of the Aqaba beam , which is 196 nautical miles (363 km) from Cairo, the crew switched to the Cairo dispatch center. At 23:22 from the aircraft, they reported on the beginning of the decline from the echelon 360, and at 23:30 the dispatcher instructed to occupy the echelon 130 (4 km). Soon, an order was given to drop to level 65 (2 km). At 23:39, when flight 705 passed level 100 (3.05 km), the dispatcher gave instructions for completing the approach and so far occupy altitude 65. At 23:40, the crew received permission to complete the approach to the 34L (left) lane left diagram, as well as an indication to switch to communication with the airport control tower. At 23:45 from the plane, it was reported that the last turn had been completed, to which the dispatcher gave permission to land and instructed to switch to communication with the start dispatcher. The crew contacted the launch dispatcher and received permission to land, a weather forecast, and instructions to transmit when the landing lights turn on. At 23:48:30 the crew replied: “I confirm”, after which at 23:48:50 (01:48 (according to other sources - 02:48:50) on May 20 local time) they heard a rattle in the control room over the radio, after which the crew no longer got in touch ^[4] .

A Boeing falling in the dark with the landing gear extended and flaps set at 20 ° (according to other sources, the flaps were removed at the moment of impact ^[5] ) crashed into the ground 20 kilometers south of Cairo Airport and completely collapsed. Arriving rescuers found 6 survivors among the wreckage. All other 13 crew members and 108 passengers died. At the time of the events, this aviation accident took first place among those that occurred in Egypt , and now it is second. It is also the largest crash of the Boeing 720 ^{[2] [6]} .

According to the conclusion of the commission, the disaster occurred due to the fact that the crew did not maintain the necessary safe altitude, dropping under it until it crashed into the ground. The reason for this decline has not been officially established ^[7] .

Comments

Sources

• ICAO Circular 88-AN / 74 (English) (link not available) . International Civil Aviation Organization (December 1968). Date of treatment August 26, 2014. Archived on August 26, 2014.