Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103

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Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103
Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727-200 Fitzgerald-1.jpg

The crashed machine in 1978
Accident summary
Accident type Air collision
place 13 kilometers east of Tripoli Airport , LibyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 
date 22nd December 1992
Fatalities 157
1. Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Boeing 727-2L5
operator Political system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Libyan Arab Airlines
Mark Political system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 5A-DIA
Departure airport Benghazi airport , LibyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 
Destination airport Tripoli Airport , LibyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 
Passengers 147
crew 10
Survivors 0
2. Aircraft
Aircraft type Soviet UnionSoviet Union Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
operator Political system of the Libyan Arab JamahiriyaPolitical system of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Libyan Air Force
Mark unknown
crew 2
Survivors 2
Lists of aviation accidents

On December 22, 1992, on Libyan Arab Airlines flight 1103 (flight number IATA : LN1103 , ICAO : LAA1103 ) there was a serious aircraft collision between a Boeing 727-2L5 of Libyan Arab Airlines that was approaching for landing and one that had recently taken off Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 of the Libyan Air Force collided. In the accident, all 157 people on board the Boeing were killed, the two crew members of the fighter aircraft survived. It is the most serious aircraft accident in Libya.

Airplanes and occupants

Boeing 727-2L5 of Libyan Arab Airlines

The first aircraft was a Boeing 727-2L5, which had completed its maiden flight on February 7, 1975 and was 17 years and 11 months old at the time of the accident. The machine with the factory number 21050 was the 1108. Boeing 727 from ongoing production. The aircraft was delivered to Libyan Arab Airlines on February 19, 1975 and has been in operation with them since then. The three-engine medium-range narrow-body aircraft was equipped with three jet engines of the type Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 equipped.

A MiG-23 fighter aircraft

There were 147 passengers and 10 crew members on board the machine. The machine was controlled by the flight captain Ali Al-Fiqi.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 of the Libyan Air Force

The second machine was a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter aircraft . The identity of the machine is not known, it was in service with the Libyan Air Force . On board the machine were two pilots from the Libyan Air Force, a fighter pilot in training and his instructor.

the accident

As the Boeing 727 approached Tripoli, the pilots were instructed to hold positions for about five minutes over the "Papa Echo" radio beacon located at a distance due to military air traffic at an altitude of 3000 feet of 4.1 DME from runway 27 at Tripoli airport. Six minutes before the planned landing, the Boeing 727 collided with the MiG-23 of the Libyan Air Force, which had taken off from Tripoli and flown to the "Papa Echo" radio beacon. The fighter plane sheared off the Boeing elevator. The Boeing then became uncontrollable, crashing to the ground in a nearly vertical attitude within 13 seconds, reaching a speed of 13,000 feet per minute before crashing to the ground. The two pilots of the MiG-23 were able to leave their aircraft with their ejector seats. One broke his arm, the other was hospitalized with only minor injuries.

consequences

Immediately after the accident, the Libyan government stated that a passenger and a military aircraft had collided in the air. She later released another statement citing mechanical failure as the cause of the crash. No military aircraft was mentioned in this statement. In a speech, Muammar al-Gaddafi condemned the international community for the accident. Sanctions imposed on Libya would have made it impossible to import spare parts for aircraft into Libya. The crash occurred due to a lack of spare parts. The trade sanctions against Libya were imposed in 1992 in connection with Libya's role in the Pan-Am Flight 103 crash .

Since most of the dead could not be identified, they were buried together in a mass grave. Due to poor relations with most states, the bodies of foreign crash victims were not extradited.

The two pilots of the MiG-23 were sentenced to prison terms.

Alternative crash theories

The instructor Majid Tayari, who was in the cockpit of the MiG-23 that day and had been in prison for years, claimed in January 2013 that his plane and the Boeing 727 had not collided, although he admitted that the machines were closed had come close. Tayari said that his machine was hit by something from below and suggested that it was rubble from the Boeing, which was destroyed by other means. Libyan Airlines' aviation security officer in 1992, Mahmud Tekalli, also suspected that the plane had been deliberately destroyed and suspected that Gaddafi agents had placed a bomb on board.

The crash has also been linked to Pan-Am Flight 103 , which was dropped with a bomb with Libyan participation. Due to the similar flight number and the fact that the crash in Libya occurred four years and one day after the Lockerbie crash, it was suspected that Gaddafi had deliberately staged the crash in order to demonstrate the effects of the sanctions against his country to the community of states .

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