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Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

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Summary
  
Survivors
  
0

Registration
  
CN-CDT

Operator
  
Survivor
  
0

Crew count
  
4

Passengers
  
40

Aircraft type
  
ATR 42-312

Date
  
21 August 1994

Fatalities
  
44 (all)

Passenger count
  
40

Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 httpsiytimgcomviBr1bXBDO6pkhqdefaultjpg

Site
  
Douar Izounine, Morocco

Similar
  
LAM Mozambique Airlines Fl, Iran Aseman Airlines Fl, Japan Airlines Flight 350, Turkish Airlines Flight 278, 1994 Iranian Air Force C‑1

Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 was a passenger flight on 21 August 1994 which crashed approximately ten minutes after takeoff from Agadir–Al Massira Airport. All 44 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the worst ATR 42 aircraft crash at that point in time. A later investigation showed that the crash was deliberately caused by the pilot.

Contents

Flight

Flight 630 was a scheduled flight from Agadir, Morocco to Casablanca using an ATR 42 aircraft. At approximately ten minutes into the flight while climbing through 16000 feet, the aircraft entered a steep dive, and crashed into a region of the Atlas Mountains about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Agadir.

The crash site was at Douar Izounine, about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Agadir. Among the 40 passengers on board were a Kuwaiti prince and his wife. The prince was the brother of Sheik Ahmed al-Mahmoud al-Jabir al-Sabah, Kuwait's minister of defence. At least 20 of the passengers were non-Moroccans. This included eight Italians, five Frenchmen, four Dutch, two Kuwaitis, and one American.

Investigation

The commission that investigated the crash determined that the ATR 42's autopilot was intentionally disconnected by the aircraft's pilot, 32-year-old Younes Khayati, who then deliberately crashed the aircraft. A flight union disputed the suicide explanation. The crash was the worst incident involving an ATR 42 aircraft at that point in time.

References

Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 Wikipedia