Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

An ATR 42-300 similar to the accident aircraft
Incident summary
Date 21 August 1994 (1994-08-21)
Summary Suicide by pilot
Site Douar Izounine, Morocco
30°36′00″N 9°19′00″W / 30.60000°N 9.31667°W / 30.60000; -9.31667Coordinates: 30°36′00″N 9°19′00″W / 30.60000°N 9.31667°W / 30.60000; -9.31667
Passengers 40
Crew 4
Fatalities 44 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type ATR 42-312
Operator Royal Air Maroc
Registration CN-CDT
Flight origin Agadir-Al Massira International Airport (AGA/GMAA)
Destination Casablanca-Mohamed V Airport (CMN/GMMN)

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.

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.[1]

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.[2][3] A flight union disputed the suicide explanation.[4] The crash was the worst incident involving an ATR 42 aircraft at that point in time.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kuwaiti Prince dies in crash." Associated Press at The Daily Telegraph. Tuesday 23 August 1994. p. 5. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "Crash that killed 44 was pilot suicide." Associated Press at the Altus Times. Thursday 25 August 1994. p. 14. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Shreeya Sinha (March 26, 2015). "A History of Crashes Caused by Pilots' Intentional Acts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-04-18. Moroccan authorities said that Younes Khayati, 32, the pilot of a Royal Air Maroc ATR-42 aircraft, intentionally disconnected the plane's automatic navigation systems on Aug. 21, 1994, and crashed the plane into the Atlas Mountains shortly after takeoff, killing all 44 people aboard. ...
  4. ↑ "Prove suicide accusation, union tells crash probers." Associated Press at The Deseret News. Saturday 27 August 1994. p. A4. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "Aviation Safety Network".
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