Flash Airlines Flight 604
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| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 3 January 2004 |
| Summary | Loss of control (due to spatial disorientation) |
| Site | Red Sea near Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt 27°50′N 34°23′E / 27.833°N 34.383°E |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-3Q8 |
| Operator | Flash Airlines |
| Registration | SU-ZCFdisaster |
| Flight origin | Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport |
| Stopover | Cairo International Airport |
| Destination | Charles De Gaulle International Airport |
| Passengers | 135 |
| Crew | 13 |
| Fatalities | 148 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Flash Airlines Flight 604 was a charter flight operated by Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines. On 3 January 2004, the Boeing 737-300 crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, killing all 142 passengers, many of them French tourists, and all 6 crew members. The findings of the crash investigation are controversial, with accident investigators from the different countries involved not agreeing on the cause.
History of the flight
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The flight took off at 04:44 Eastern European Time (0244 GMT) from runway 22R at the Egyptian resort en route to Paris via Cairo. The captain was one of Egypt's most experienced pilots, with over 7,000 hours flying experience that included a highly decorated career in the Egyptian Air Force.
After taking off, the aircraft should have climbed and initiated a left turn to follow the air corridor to Cairo designated by the Sharm el-Sheikh VOR station. The captain appeared surprised when the autopilot was engaged, which he immediately switched off again. The copilot warned the captain that the bank angle was increasing. At a bank angle of 40 degrees to the right, the captain said "OK come out".[1] The ailerons were briefly returned to a neutral before being commanded to increase the bank to the right. The aircraft reached an altitude of 5,460 feet (1,660 m) with a 50 degrees bank when the copilot exclaimed "Overbank" repeatedly when the bank angle kept increasing. The bank angle was 111 degrees right, while the pitch attitude was 43 degrees nose down at an altitude of 3,470 feet (1,060 m). The observer on the flight deck, also a pilot, but a trainee on this type of aircraft, shouted "Retard power, retard power, retard power".[1] Both throttles were moved to idle; the captain appeared to regain control of the airplane from the nose-down, right bank attitude. However the speed increased, causing an overspeed warning. At 04:45, the aircraft impacted the water about 9.4 statute miles (15.2 km; 8.2 nmi) south of the airport. The impact occurred while the aircraft was in a 24 degree right bank, 24 degree nose-down attitude, travelling at 416 knots (770 km/h) and pulling 3.9g (38 m/s²).[citation needed] All passengers and crew were killed on impact.
Charles de Gaulle Airport initially indicated the Flash Airlines flight as delayed; authorities began notifying relatives and friends of the deaths of the passengers two hours after the scheduled arrival time. Authorities took relatives and friends to a hotel, where they received a list of passengers confirmed to be on the flight.[2][3] Marc Chernet, president of the victims' families association of Flight 604, described the disaster as the "biggest air disaster involving French nationals" in civil aviation.[3]
Passengers and crew
Khadr Abdullah[4] (referred to as Mohammed Khedr in a Times Online article[5]) was the captain. Amr Shaafei served as the first officer.[3][6] Ashraf Abdelhamid, who also held Canadian and U.S. citizenship,[7][8] was training as a first officer and had experience flying corporate jets; he sat in the cockpit with the pilot and copilot.[3]
Most of the passengers were French tourists who originated from the Paris area.[2] A 5 January 2004 provisional passenger list stated that twelve entire French families had boarded the flight.[9] Members of seventeen families appeared at Charles de Gaulle Airport to take passengers on the flight; this fact gave the airport staff indication that entire families died on Flight 604.[2][10]
French tourist Pascal Mercier and his family were supposed to be on the flight, but he did not like the idea of getting up early since he had three young children. Hotel staff checked the rooms of passengers booked on the flight; 82 people from that hotel had boarded the flight, and many of the rooms were empty. Staff found Mercier and his family still in their hotel room.[3]
| Final tally of passenger nationalities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Passengers | Crew | Total |
 Canada,  Egypt, and  United States |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| Egypt |
0 | 6 | 6 |
 France |
139 | 0 | 139 |
 Japan |
1 | 0 | 1 |
 Morocco |
2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 142 | 6 | 148 |
Investigation
Initially, it was thought that terrorists might have been involved, as fear of aviation terrorism was high (with several major airlines in previous days canceling flights on short notice). Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also holidaying in the Sharm el-Sheikh area. A group in Yemen said that it destroyed the aircraft as a protest against a new law in France banning headscarves in schools. Accident investigators dismissed terrorism when they discovered that the wreckage was in a tight debris field, indicating that the aircraft crashed in one piece; a bombed aircraft would disintegrate and leave a large debris field.[3]
The wreckage sank to a depth of 1,000 m (3,300 ft), making recovery of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder difficult. However two weeks after the accident, both devices were located by a French salvage vessel and recovered by a ROV. The accident investigators examined the recorders while in Cairo. The maintenance records of the aircraft had not been duplicated; they were destroyed in the crash and no backup copies existed.[3]
The American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) investigated and concluded that the pilot suffered spatial disorientation, and the copilot was unwilling to challenge his more experienced superior. Furthermore, according to the NTSB and BEA, both officers were insufficiently trained. The NTSB stated that the cockpit voice recorder showed that 24 seconds passed after the airliner banked before the pilot began correcting maneuvers. Egyptian authorities disagree with this assessment, as does the Egyptian public, who both tend to attribute the cause to mechanical issues.[11] Shaker Kelada, the lead Egyptian investigator, said that if Hamid, who had more experience than the copilot, detected any problems with the flight, he would have raised objections.[3] Some media reports suggest that the plane crashed due to technical problems, possibly a result of the apparently questionable safety record of the airline. This attitude was shown in a press briefing given by the BEA chief, who was berated by the first officer's mother during a press conference, and demanded that the crew be absolved of fault prior to the completion of the investigation. Two months after the crash Flash Airlines went bankrupt.[11]
Flight 604 has the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Egypt and the highest death toll of any accident involving a Boeing 737-300 anywhere in the world.
References
- ^ a b "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ a b c Websterm Paul. "Families of air crash victims fly to Egypt." The Guardian. Sunday 4 January 2004. Retrieved on 12 June 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Desperate Dive." Mayday [documentary TV series].
- ^ "Report blames technical failure for 2004 Flash Airlines crash." Daily News Egypt. 27 March 2006. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ Bremmer, Charles. "Investigators dispute crash finding." The Times. 27 March 2006. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ "Peace for victims brings no solace." Al-Ahram Weekly. 21-27 July 2005. Issue No. 752. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ "Crews find Egyptian plane crash 'black box'." Associated Press. Tuesday 6 January 2004. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ McDonald, Jeff. "Local victim in Red Sea crash a man of mystery." San Diego Union-Tribune. 8 January 2004. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ Lichfield, John. "Twelve entire families named among Red Sea crash victims as Swiss reveal airline safety fears." The Independent. 5 January 2004. Retrieved on 14 January 2009.
- ^ http://www.camerounlink.net/fr/news.php?nid=5970&kat=1&seite=660
- ^ a b "Safety First, Always." Sparaco, P. Aviation Week & Space Technology. April 10, 2006.