Passengers 98 Fatalities 100 Date 20 March 1969 Injuries (nonfatal) 5 Survivor 5 | Crew 7 Survivors 5 Number of deaths 100 Operator EgyptAir | |
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Destination Aswan International Airport Similar Olympic Airways Flight 954, Mexicana Flight 704, Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Fl, Philippine Airlines Flight 158, Nigeria Airways Flight 825 | ||
On 20 March 1969, a United Arab Airlines Ilyushin Il-18 crashed while attempting to land at Aswan Airport. 100 of the 105 passengers and crew on board were killed in the crash.
Contents
The crash
The flight was a non-scheduled international passenger service from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Aswan, Egypt. The aircraft was carrying home Muslim worshippers who had won a pilgrimage through a lottery. It was dark in the early morning when the flight attempted to land and blowing sand had reduced visibility to 2–3 kilometers. After two unsuccessful attempts to land, the aircraft was making a third try when it banked to the right and hit the left side of the runway. The starboard wing tore off and a fuel spillage followed which caused the crashed aircraft to burst into flames.
Cause
The probable cause was determined to be that the "Pilot descended below the minimum safe altitude without having the runway lights clearly in sight. A contributory factor was fatigue arising from continuous working hours without suitable rest periods."