Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
| Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 | |
|---|---|
 An ATR 42 aircraft |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Pilot suicide |
| place | near Douar Izounine, Morocco
|
| date | August 21, 1994 |
| Fatalities | 44 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
  ATR 42-312
|
| operator |
Royal Air Maroc
|
| Mark |
CN-CDT
|
| Departure airport |
Agadir Airport , Morocco
|
| Destination airport |
Casablanca Airport , Morocco
|
| Passengers | 40 |
| crew | 4th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 (Flight number: AT630 ) was a scheduled flight of the airline Royal Air Maroc from airport Agadir to Casablanca airport . On August 21, 1994, an ATR 42-312 had an accident on this flight . All 44 people on board were killed in the accident. The most likely cause of the accident is a deliberately induced crash caused by the action of the flight captain Younes Khayati.
Until the crash on Santa Bárbara Airlines flight 518 in 2008, it was the most serious accident involving an ATR 42.
plane
The aircraft affected was an ATR 42-312, a type of the Italian-French consortium Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) founded by Aeritalia and Aérospatiale for the construction of regional aircraft . The machine had the serial number 127, was finally assembled at ATR's production site in Toulouse in 1989 and was delivered to Royal Air Maroc in March 1989. After its F-WWEX test approval , the machine received the Moroccan aircraft registration number CN-CDT . The twin-engine regional airliner was with two turboprop engines of the type Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 equipped.
Crew and passengers
The captain of the machine was 32-year-old Younes Khayati, who had more than 4,500 hours of flight experience. First officer was Sofia Figuigui. In addition, there were two flight attendants and 40 passengers on board.
Flight history
Ten minutes after take-off and at an altitude of 16,000 feet (approx. 4,600 meters), the aircraft's autopilot was switched off. The machine then went into a dive and crashed into the ground in the Atlas Mountains near Douar Izounine , 32 kilometers north of Agadir. All 44 people were killed.
Victim
The 40 passengers on board who were killed in the accident included a prince from Kuwait and his wife. The prince was the brother of Sheikh Ahmed al-Mahmoud al-Jabir al-Sabah, the defense minister of Kuwait. At least 20 passengers did not come from Morocco, including eight Italians , five French , four Dutch , two Kuwaitis and one American .
root cause
The cause of the accident is suspected to be a conscious action by the 32-year-old flight captain Younes Khayati. He switched off the autopilot and steered the machine into the ground. The motive was assumed to be unrequited love. According to the Agence France-Presse , the recordings of the voice recorder allow conclusions to be drawn that the captain was unhappy in love with his female co-pilot. The recordings can be heard how the first officer calls out: “Help, help! The captain...". The rest of the call then falls silent. The flight accident investigators did not want to confirm the thesis of the unhappily in love flight captain.
The Moroccan pilots union contradicted the suicide thesis. According to her, the captain showed no signs of personal or professional frustration before the accident.
Sources and Links
- Aircraft accident report in the Aviation Safety Network
- Summary of aviation accidents involving pilot suicide , The Guardian, November 15, 1999.
- Moroccan pilot killed 44 people in suicide crash Washington Post, August 26, 1994.
- Pilot's Death Wish Doomed Moroccan Plane; Romantic Problems Cited apnews.com August 25, 1994.
- Picture of an ATR 42 of Royal Air Maroc
Coordinates: 30 ° 36 ′ 0 ″ N , 9 ° 19 ′ 0 ″ W.