Tripoli - Marsa el Brega
Flight / Schedule
Tripoli - Marsa el Brega
Aircraft
Short 360Registration
HB-AAM
MSN
3763
Year of Manufacture
1990
Operator
Sirte Oil CompanyDate
January 13, 2000 at 12:38 PM
Type
CRASHFlight Type
Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)
Flight Phase
Landing (descent or approach)
Crash Site
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Crash Location
Marsa el Brega Al Wahat (<U+0627><U+0644><U+0648><U+0627><U+062D><U+0627><U+062A>)
Region
Africa • Libya
Crash Cause
Human factor
Narrative Report
On January 13, 2000 at 12:38 PM, Tripoli - Marsa el Brega experienced a crash involving Short 360, operated by Sirte Oil Company, with the event recorded near Marsa el Brega Al Wahat (<U+0627><U+0644><U+0648><U+0627><U+062D><U+0627><U+062A>).
The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.
41 people were known to be on board, 22 fatalities were recorded, 19 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 53.7%.
Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 38, passenger fatalities: 21, other fatalities: 0.
The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft took off at 0929 utc from Tripoli-Intl Airport with two flight crew, one cabin crew and 38 passengers of which three children and one infant with 3,200 lbs of fuel on board. The aircraft flew on the route Tripoli - Beniwalid - Tilal direct to Marsa Brega. During flight, the crew have noticed fuel imbalance so they did a cross feeding until fuel balanced at 11:17:12 utc. At 11:25:51 utc, the aircraft started to descend from FL070 at 40 nm from Marsa Brega. At 11:36:57 utc, the left engine flamed out and the captain asked his f/o to confirm left engine failure at 11:37:27 utc. The f/o confirmed the left engine failure at 11:37:28 utc. The right engine flamed out at 11:37:39 utc. The captain asked his f/o to inform soc operation at Marsa Brega about the two engines failure and his decision to ditch at 11:37:57 utc. The captain asked his f/o to relight the engine at 11:38:05 utc. The GPWS activated since the aircraft was in an unsafe situation. At 11:38:34 utc, the aircraft ditched in the sea at 30 23.457 N 019 28.953 E. Both pilots and 17 other occupants were rescued while 22 other people including the cabin crew were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. Most of the passengers were employees of the Sirte Oil Company and working at the Marsa Brega Oil Complex. On board were 15 Libyans (among them both pilots), 13 British, two Canadians, three Indians, three Croatians, three Philippines, one Pakistan and one Tunisian, the cabin crew. Operated by the Libyan Sirte Oil Company, the aircraft was owned by Avisto, a Swiss operator.
Aircraft reference details include registration HB-AAM, MSN 3763, year of manufacture 1990.
Fatalities
Total
22
Crew
1
Passengers
21
Other
0
Crash Summary
The aircraft took off at 0929 utc from Tripoli-Intl Airport with two flight crew, one cabin crew and 38 passengers of which three children and one infant with 3,200 lbs of fuel on board. The aircraft flew on the route Tripoli - Beniwalid - Tilal direct to Marsa Brega. During flight, the crew have noticed fuel imbalance so they did a cross feeding until fuel balanced at 11:17:12 utc. At 11:25:51 utc, the aircraft started to descend from FL070 at 40 nm from Marsa Brega. At 11:36:57 utc, the left engine flamed out and the captain asked his f/o to confirm left engine failure at 11:37:27 utc. The f/o confirmed the left engine failure at 11:37:28 utc. The right engine flamed out at 11:37:39 utc. The captain asked his f/o to inform soc operation at Marsa Brega about the two engines failure and his decision to ditch at 11:37:57 utc. The captain asked his f/o to relight the engine at 11:38:05 utc. The GPWS activated since the aircraft was in an unsafe situation. At 11:38:34 utc, the aircraft ditched in the sea at 30 23.457 N 019 28.953 E. Both pilots and 17 other occupants were rescued while 22 other people including the cabin crew were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. Most of the passengers were employees of the Sirte Oil Company and working at the Marsa Brega Oil Complex. On board were 15 Libyans (among them both pilots), 13 British, two Canadians, three Indians, three Croatians, three Philippines, one Pakistan and one Tunisian, the cabin crew. Operated by the Libyan Sirte Oil Company, the aircraft was owned by Avisto, a Swiss operator.
Cause: Human factor
Occupants & Outcome
Crew On Board
3
Passengers On Board
38
Estimated Survivors
19
Fatality Rate
53.7%
Known people on board: 41
Operational Details
Schedule / Flight
Tripoli - Marsa el Brega
Operator
Sirte Oil CompanyFlight Type
Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)
Flight Phase
Landing (descent or approach)
Crash Site
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Region / Country
Africa • Libya
Aircraft Details
Similar Plane Crashes
L'Aéropostale
Nieuport-Delage NiD-641
The aircraft departed Paris-Le Bourget on a mail flight to Saigon, carrying three crew members. Intermediate stops were scheduled in Marseille, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Benghazi, Cairo, Basra, Agra, Allahabad, Calcutta, Akyab and Yangon. En route from Tripoli to Benghazi, the aircraft crashed in the Mediterranean Sea in unknown circumstances. As the airplane failed to arrive in Benghazi, SAR operations were initiated and on December 23, the crew of an Italian ship found the wreckage and the dead bodied on a beach located near Sirte. Crew: Edmond Lasalle, pilot, Mr. Reybard, radio navigator, Mr. Faltot, engineer.
Private French
Caudron C.630 Simoun
The Caudron C.630 Simoun with s/n 7042 was ordered in July 1935, built and delivered to its owner Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in September 1935. After several trips in Africa, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry decided at the end of December to fly from Paris to Saigon to establish a new record. After 19 hours and 38 minutes of flight, while cruising by night over the Libyan desert, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls. The crew decided first to climb to 2,500 meters but cumulus were still there so he reduced his altitude to 1,000 meters then 400 meters and lower until the aircraft struck a sandy ground and crashed. Both occupants were uninjured but walked away for four days without water or any food before being rescued. The aircraft was written off.
Ala Littoria
CRDA CANT Z.506
On approach to Benghazi, one of the three engines exploded. The pilot decided to hurry the descent but the seaplane hit the mast of a boat and crashed in a huge explosion into the bay off Benghazi. While the radio navigator was seriously injured, all nine others occupants were killed.
British Airways
Lockheed 14 Super Electra
Less than one hour after his departure from El Salloum Airport, at the border between Egypt and Libya, the pilot sent a mayday message due to unknown technical problems. He was forced to ditch the aircraft off the Libyan coast. The crew of a ship was quickly on the scene and was able to rescue six occupants, among them the pilot, while five other occupants were killed.
Royal Air Force - RAF
Bristol 130 Bombay
The aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances in the Libyan desert while on its way to el-Gubba, east of Tobruk. W/O N. P. Donnelly survived and became a PoW while four other occupants were killed. Crew (216th Squadron): F/S Benjamin T. M. Baker, pilot, F/L John B. W. Smith, pilot LAC Alfred F. Crohill, Cpl William C. Royle, wireless operator and air gunner, W/O N. P. Donnelly. Special thanks to Nigel Hartley for his testimony.
Regia Aeronautica
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
The three engine aircraft left El Feteyat Airfield at 1700LT bound for Tobruk. Half way down, the crew informed ground he was about 160 km east of his departure point. While approaching Tobruk, the aircraft was hit by flak, went out of control and crashed in flames in the desert, some 60 km west of Tobruk. All nine occupants were killed, among them the Italian Minister of Aviation Italo Balbo. Crew: Marechal Italo Balbo, Pilot, Major Ottavio Frailich, copilot, Captain Gino Cappannini, flight engineer, Sergeant-Major Giuseppe Berti, radio navigator, Enrico Caretti, Lino Balbo, Claudio Brunelli, Nello Quilici, Cino Florio.