Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740
| Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740 | |
|---|---|
 A Boeing 707-320C operated by Pakistan International Airlines |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Loss of control due to fire |
| place | 48 kilometers north of Taif , Saudi Arabia
|
| date | November 26, 1979 |
| Fatalities | 156 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-340C |
| operator |
 Pakistan International Airlines
|
| Mark | AP-EEZ |
| Departure airport |
Kano Airport , Nigeria
|
| Stopover |
Jeddah Airport (old) , Saudi Arabia
|
| Destination airport |
Karachi Airport , Pakistan
|
| Passengers | 145 |
| crew | 11 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
Pakistan International Airlines flight 740 (flight number: PK740 ) was a flight of the airline Pakistan International Airlines in which a Boeing 707-340C crashed on November 26, 1979 as a result of a fire . All 156 people on board were killed in the crash. The alleged source of fire was a gasoline-powered stove used in flight.
It is the third most serious accident in Saudi Arabia and the third most serious accident involving a Boeing 707. For Pakistan International Airlines, it was the most serious incident until 1992, when 268,167 people died on Pakistan International Airlines flight .
plane
The aircraft involved in the accident was a nine-year-old Boeing 707-340C, which made its first flight on July 30, 1970 and was newly delivered to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on August 10 of the same year and was registered with the aircraft registration AP-AWB . The machine with the serial number 20275 was the 844th Boeing of the 707/720 series. After it had been leased to British Caledonian Airways for several months , the machine was again registered with the PIA in September 1972 with the aircraft registration AP-AWZ . By the time of the accident, the machine had completed 30,710 flight hours.
Flight history
Before the accident, the machine was performing Hajj flights. After the machine pilgrims from Kano in the Muslim dominated north of Nigeria and Jeddah , the destination for Mecca and passengers in in Saudi Arabia , had promoted increased on -Abd-al-Aziz Airport King International returning pilgrims from Mecca for the flight to Karachi in Pakistan too. A total of 145 passengers and 11 crew members went on board.
At 1:29 a.m., the aircraft took off from Jeddah and began a climb to its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet (11,000 meters). At 1:47 a.m., a flight attendant informed the crew that a fire had broken out in the area of the rear passenger door. The crew informed air traffic control about the situation on board and initiated an emergency descent from their reached altitude of 30,000 feet (9100 meters). Shortly thereafter, she was cleared to descend to 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). The crew asked for permission to return to Jeddah because the smoke was now drawing into the cockpit. At 02:03 am, the air traffic controller heard the captain “Mayday! Mayday! “ , Then the radio contact broke off. About a minute later, the machine crashed in a rocky mountain area and went up in flames on impact. All 156 people on board were killed. The crash site was about 900 meters above sea level.
Cause of accident
The cause of the accident was determined to be a fire that had started in the rear of the cabin. The fire spread quickly, whereupon the passengers panicked and tried to escape to the front cabin area. This adversely affected the machine's center of gravity, with the crew becoming incapacitated as a result of the rapid spread of the smoke, which ultimately led to a loss of control.
Since no extensive use of a fire accelerator could be determined, a gasoline-powered stove used by pilgrims in the cabin area was assumed as the most likely source of fire. In the 1970s it was not uncommon for inexperienced pilgrims to take such devices on board of passenger planes. In the opinion of the flight accident investigators, gasoline escaped from such an operating stove because of the lower cabin pressure for the flight at cruising altitude, which ultimately led to the fire.
See also
- Saudia flight 163 , another pilgrimage over Jeddah, on which a stove allegedly killed all occupants
- Nigeria Airways flight 2120 , another pilgrimage over Jeddah, on which all people on board were also killed because of a fire on board, albeit for a different cause
Individual evidence
- ↑ AP-EEZ Registration Details. In: All Pakistan Aircraft Registration Marks. Retrieved March 17, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e Accident report Boeing 707-340C AP-AWZ Aviation Safety Network , accessed on March 17, 2019.
- ↑ NO SURVIVORS FOUND IN PAKISTANI PLANE. In: New York Times . November 27, 1979. Retrieved March 17, 2019 .
Coordinates: 21 ° 42 ′ 44.5 " N , 40 ° 25 ′ 20.7" E