Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z

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Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z
Cathay Pacific Convair CV-880-22-1 Volpati-1.jpg

An identical machine from Cathay Pacific
Accident summary
Accident type Bomb explosion
place 55 km southeast of Pleiku , South VietnamVietnam SudSouth Vietnam 
date June 15, 1972
Fatalities 81
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type Convair CV-880
operator Cathay Pacific
Mark VR-HFZ
Departure airport Singapore Paya Lebar Airport
Stopover ThailandThailand Don Mueang Airport
Destination airport Hong Kong 1959Hong Kong Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport
Passengers 71
crew 10
Lists of aviation accidents

The Cathay Pacific flight 700Z was a scheduled flight of the Cathay Pacific from Singapore via Bangkok to Hong Kong , on which a Convair CV-880 broke apart and crashed on June 15, 1972 after a bomb explosion over South Vietnam . All 81 inmates were killed. It is the most serious accident involving a Convair CV-880.

plane

The Convair CV-880 with the aircraft registration VR-HFZ completed its maiden flight in 1961 and was around eleven years old at the time of the accident.

procedure

The aircraft took off at 04:55 UTC in Bangkok in the direction of Hong Kong and rose to the cruising altitude of 29,000 feet (approx. 8800 meters). At 5:42 a.m., the pilots contacted the Saigon District Control Center. 17 minutes later, at 5:59 a.m., a bomb placed in a cosmetic case exploded under a seat on the right-hand side above the wing in the passenger cabin, causing parts of the fuselage and cabin to damage important controls such as the elevator and vertical stabilizer. The badly damaged machine went into a rapid nosedive and broke apart in midair before impact. The burning debris of the machine fell into a jungle in the central highlands, about 55 kilometers southeast of the city of Pleiku . All 71 passengers and 10 crew members were killed in the crash. It was the worst accident between a Convair CV-880 and a Cathay Pacific aircraft and at the same time the airline's last total loss and fatal incident to date (end of 2019).

Investigations

Investigations by the British Aircraft Accident Authority and the Hong Kong police revealed that the machine broke apart after an explosive device detonated in the passenger cabin and caught fire. A suspicious Thai police officer whose fiancée and daughter were in the machine was charged and acquitted two years later for lack of evidence. According to the Bangkok Post, he received the required sum insured of 5.5 million baht . The investigation report strongly recommended that the sale of air travel insurance policies in airports be banned. It was also strongly recommended that insurance companies should inform airport authorities and airlines if passengers were taking out short-term insurance for larger sums.

See also

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