Agadir air disaster
The Agadir air disaster was a chartered Boeing 707 passenger flight on Sunday, August 3, 1975, that crashed into a mountain on approach to Agadir Inezgane Airport, Morocco. All 188 passengers and crew on board were killed. It is the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Boeing 707, as well as the deadliest in Morocco.[1]
 An Alia Boeing 707-321C similar to aircraft that crashed | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 3, 1975 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error |
| Site | Agadir, Morocco |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-321C |
| Operator | Alia on behalf of Royal Air Maroc |
| Registration | JY-AEE |
| Flight origin | Le Bourget Airport, Paris |
| Destination | Inezgane Airport, Agadir |
| Occupants | 188 |
| Passengers | 181 |
| Crew | 7 |
| Fatalities | 188 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Flight
The 707, owned by Alia, was chartered by the national airline of Morocco, Royal Air Maroc, to fly 181 Moroccan workers and their families from France home for the holidays.[2] It was the early hours of morning when the aircraft approached Agadir. There was heavy fog in the area and the aircraft was flying in from the northeast over the Atlas Mountains. At around 04:25 local time, as the 707 was descending from 8,000 feet (2,400 m) for a runway 29 approach, its right wingtip and no. 4 (outer-right) engine struck a peak at 2,400 feet (730 m) altitude. Part of the wing separated. The aircraft lost control and crashed into a ravine.
Rescue teams found wreckage over a wide area. The destruction was so complete, nothing bigger than 1 square metre (10 sq ft) in size was found.
The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error in not ensuring positive course guidance before beginning descent. The aircraft had not followed the usual north-south corridor generally used for flights to Agadir.[3][4]
References
- Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network.
- "188 on Charter Jet Killed In Moroccan Crash in Fog". The New York Times. August 4, 1975. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
- Accident Synopsis 08031975 Archived February 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- "Un Boeing jordanien s'écrase près d'Agadir. CATASTROPHE AÉRIENNE AU MAROC: 188 MORTS" [A Jordanian Boeing crashes near Agadir. AERIAL DISASTER IN MOROCCO: 188 DEATHS] (PDF) (in French). Retrieved August 9, 2019.