Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727-200 Fitzgerald-1.jpg

An identical Boeing 727 from the company.
Accident summary
Accident type Launch
place Sinai Peninsula , near Ismailia
date February 21, 1973
Fatalities 108
Survivors 5
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 727-224
operator Libyan Arab Airlines
Mark 5A-DAH
Departure airport Tripoli International Airport (HLLT)
32 ° 39 '49 "  N , 13 ° 9' 32"  O
Stopover Bengasi airport (HLLB)
32 ° 5 '49'  N , 20 ° 16 '10 "  O
Destination airport Cairo International Airport (HECA)
30 ° 7 '19 "  N , 31 ° 24' 20"  O
Passengers 104
crew 9
Lists of aviation accidents

The Libyan Arab Airlines flight 114 was shot down by Israeli fighter planes on February 21, 1973 over the Sinai Peninsula . Of the 113 occupants of the Boeing 727, 108 were killed.

Course of events

The four-year-old Boeing 727-224 with the aircraft registration number 5A-DAH took off from the Libyan capital Tripoli on a scheduled flight via Benghazi to Cairo . On the route between Benghazi and Cairo, she went off course from Sidi Barrani due to poor visibility due to a sandstorm, a poorly functioning compass on board and technical problems with flight control in Cairo. The pilots failed to match the might not be functioning beacon Fayum ( 29 ° 23 '58.8 "  N , 30 ° 23' 37.8"  O ) and suspected at 13:44 a navigational error. They did not report this to the air traffic control in Cairo. At 13:52 the pilots were given permission to descend into Cairo Airport. However, a strong tailwind caused the machine to drift eastward past Cairo into the area of ​​the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula . The visibility conditions improved over the Sinai and the crew presumably noticed their mistake.

The intrusion of the Libyan machine into the airspace over the Sinai at 13:54 was noticed by the Israeli air surveillance. The Boeing was flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m). Two F-4 Phantom II fighter planes of the Israeli Air Force reached the passenger jet at 1:59 p.m. and requested it to land on the Israeli air force base Rephidim with hand signals from the pilots, wing movements and warning shots . The Boeing crew refused to follow the fighter planes and headed west. The Israeli pilots interpreted this as an attempt to escape. At 2:04 p.m., David Elazar , Chief of Staff of the Israeli Air Force, gave orders to shoot the wings to force the aircraft to make an emergency landing. The fighter pilots opened fire and hit the right wing and the middle engine on the tail of the aircraft. A fire developed in the direction of the cabin. The Boeing pilots had to make an emergency landing in the desert ( 30 ° 24 ′ 28 ″ N, 32 ° 33 ′ 32 ″ E ). The impact at 2:10 p.m. on dunes in Sinai near Ismailia on the Suez Canal triggered an explosion in the area of ​​the right main landing gear . 108 of the 113 people on board were killed. Among the survivors was the Libyan copilot , but not the experienced French captain Jacques Berjes. He was in action as part of a cooperation between Libyan Airlines and Air France . He was responsible for training his Libyan colleagues on the new passenger jet.

Background of the launch

The Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal has been occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in 1967. Israel was still at war with Egypt. The approach of the Libyan Boeing was seen as a threat in Israel.

When questioning the surviving co-pilot, he said that it was clear to the crew that the Israeli fighter pilots had asked them to land in Israel. The tense political relationship between Israel and Libya, however, made them decide not to follow this request. Contrary to the statements of the copilot, the Libyan government claimed that the Israelis shot down the plane without warning. The Israeli Air Force assessed the machine's intrusion into Sinai as a possible threat to Israel and suspected that it may have intended to fly towards the Israeli Air Force Base Bir Gifgafa ( 30 ° 24 ′ 25.9 ″  N , 33 ° for espionage purposes 9 ′ 15.1 ″  O ).

In the aftermath of the investigation into the downing of the civilian plane, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan described the incident as an error. Israel provided compensation to the victims' families.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John T. (Maj.) Phelps: Aerial intrusions by Civil and Military Aircraft in a Time of Peace . In: Judge Advocate General's School, US Army (Ed.): Military Law Review . 107, Winter 1985, pp. 255-303. p. 288
  2. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d Die Luftfahrt , Libyan Arab Airlines Flight LN 114 - shot down over Sinai , accessed on May 18, 2012
  4. ↑ a b c d e Gero, David. Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1940 (4th Edition) ISBN 0-7509-3146-9 , pp. 116-117
  5. ^ A b c John T. (Maj.) Phelps: Aerial intrusions by Civil and Military Aircraft in a Time of Peace . In: Judge Advocate General's School, US Army (Ed.): Military Law Review . 107, Winter 1985, pp. 255-303. p. 289