Muscat - Muscat

On September 2, 2006 at 03:47 PM, Muscat - Muscat experienced a crash involving BAe Nimrod, operated by Royal Air Force - RAF, with the event recorded near Kandahar Kandahar.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

14 people were known to be on board, 14 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 14, crew fatalities: 14, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The aircraft departed at 13:43 for a mission over Afghanistan, in support of coalition forces engaging the Taliban. At 15:30 the airplane rendezvoused with an RAF Lockheed TriStar tanker and received fuel in an air-to-air refuelling procedure that lasted 10 minutes. Air-to-air refuelling appeared to pass without incident and XV230's crew prepared to turn east, towards their operational area. Eleven minutes later a bomb bay fire warning, either coincident with, or followed immediately by, an elevator bay underfloor smoke warning, was reported. The crew also reported smoke entering the aircraft’s cabin, from both elevator and aileron bays. Within a minute the aircraft depressurised as the fire breached the aircraft’s pressure hull requiring the crew to don their oxygen masks. The captain began to turn the aircraft towards Kandahar, declared a MAYDAY and began a descent. Meanwhile a crew member reported a fire 'from the rear of the starboard engines'. Another crew member reported a fire within the aileron bay. Last radio contact was at 15:46 when the crew acknowledged the Kandahar weather for landing. About the same time, a Harrier GR7 pilot, who was several thousand feet above, reported an intense fire close to the starboard fuselage and stretching out between where the wing joins the aircraft fuselage to the starboard engine; there was a second fire that stretched behind the aircraft from a point on the side of the rear body of the aircraft. At 15:47 the Harrier pilot reported that he saw the Nimrod explode. It broke into 4 sections, at a height of between 750 feet and 1000 feet. All 14 crew members were killed. Crew: F/Sgt Gary Wayne Andrews, F/Sgt Stephen Beattie, F/Sgt Gerard Martin Bell, F/Sgt Adrian Davies, L/Cpl Oliver Simon Dicketts, F/Lt Steven Johnson, Sgt Benjamin James Knight, F/Lt Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore, F/Lt Gareth Rodney Nicholas, Sgt John Joseph Langton, Sgt Gary Paul Quilliam, F/Lt Allan James Squires, F/Lt Steven Swarbrick, Mne Joseph David Windall.

Aircraft reference details include registration XV230, MSN 8005, year of manufacture 1969.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 31.6123°, 65.7013°.