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Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

Coordinates: 30°36′00″N 9°19′00″W / 30.60000°N 9.31667°W / 30.60000; -9.31667
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Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
The plane involved at Tenerife South Airport a few months before crashing
Incident
Date21 August 1994 (1994-08-21)
SummarySuicide by pilot
SiteDouar Izounine, Morocco
30°36′00″N 9°19′00″W / 30.60000°N 9.31667°W / 30.60000; -9.31667
Aircraft
Aircraft typeATR 42-312
OperatorRoyal Air Maroc
RegistrationCN-CDT
Flight originAgadir-Al Massira International Airport
DestinationCasablanca-Mohamed V Airport
Occupants44
Passengers40
Crew4
Fatalities44
Survivors0

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 in Morocco. All 44 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the deadliest ATR 42 aircraft crash at that point in time. An investigation showed that the crash was deliberately caused by one of the pilots.

Background

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Aircraft

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The aircraft involved was an ATR 42-312 which had its maiden flight on 20 January 1989. The aircraft was delivered to Royal Air Maroc on 24 March the same year. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 turboprop engines.[1][2]

Crew

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The captain was 32-year-old Younes Khayati, who had 4,500 flight hours. The first officer was Sofia Figuigui.[3]

Flight

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Victims' nationalities
Nationality Passengers Crew Total
Morocco 20 4 24
Italy 8 - 8
France 5 - 5
Netherlands 4 - 4
Kuwait 2 - 2
United States 1 - 1
Total 40 4 44[4]

Flight 630 was a scheduled flight from Agadir, Morocco to Casablanca using an ATR 42 aircraft. At approximately 10 minutes into the flight while climbing through 16,000 feet (4,900 m), the aircraft entered a steep dive, and crashed into a region of the Atlas Mountains about 32 kilometres (20 mi; 17 nmi) north of Agadir.

The crash site was at Douar Izounine, about 32 kilometres (20 mi; 17 nmi) north of Agadir. Among the 40 passengers on board were a Kuwaiti prince and his wife. The prince was the brother of Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, then Kuwait's minister of defence.[4]

Investigation

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The commission that investigated the crash determined it to be pilot suicide.[5] Flight recorder data revealed that the ATR 42's autopilot was intentionally disconnected by Captain Khayati, who then deliberately put the aircraft into a dive.[6] Evidence also showed that during the descent, First Officer Figuigui had sent out distress calls once aware of the captain's intentions.[7] The Moroccan pilots union disputed the suicide explanation, claiming that Captain Khayati was mentally fit and showed no signs of frustration, and instead claiming that Captain Khayati reported a "technical problem" prior to takeoff, although the investigative commission never found evidence supporting this claim.[8][9] The crash was the deadliest incident involving an ATR 42 aircraft at that point in time.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Royal Air Maroc CN-CDT (ATR 42/72 - MSN 127)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  2. ^ "CN-CDT Royal Air Maroc ATR 42". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Pilot's Death Wish Doomed Moroccan Plane; Romantic Problems Cited". AP NEWS. Rabat, Morocco: Associated Press. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Kuwaiti Prince dies in crash". The Daily Telegraph. Associated Press. 23 August 1994. p. 5. Retrieved 5 November 2013 – via Google News.
  5. ^ "Crash that killed 44 was pilot suicide". Altus Times. Associated Press. 25 August 1994. p. 14. Retrieved 5 November 2013 – via Google News.
  6. ^ Sinha, Shreeya (26 March 2015). "A History of Crashes Caused by Pilots' Intentional Acts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 April 2015. 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. ...
  7. ^ "Air crash 'was pilot suicide'". The Independent. 25 August 1994. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  8. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-312 CN-CDT Tizounine". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Prove suicide accusation, union tells crash probers". The Deseret News. Associated Press. 27 August 1994. p. A4. Retrieved 5 November 2013 – via Google News.
  10. ^ Ranter, Harro. "Incident description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network.
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