Bombay – Cairo – Rome – Geneva – Paris – Shannon – Gander – New York

On August 31, 1950 at 02:03 AM, Bombay – Cairo – Rome – Geneva – Paris – Shannon – Gander – New York experienced a crash involving Lockheed L-749 Constellation, operated by Trans World Airlines - TWA, with the event recorded near Wadi El Natrun Beheira.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a desert crash site.

55 people were known to be on board, 55 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 7, passengers on board: 48, passenger fatalities: 48, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The four engine aircraft christened 'Star of Maryland' left Cairo-Faruk Airport at 0135LT and was cleared to climb to 14,000 feet. While flying to the northwest at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the engine number three caught fire. The propeller was feathered but the crew was unable to extinguish the fire. the Cairo control tower received a routine position report at 23:55Z "off Cairo 2335 25 miles out of Cairo at 2343 estimated time of arrival Rome 0530" which was acknowledged but the flight did not reply with the customary "Roger". No other message was received from the flight despite frequent attempts to contact it by several stations. At or about the time of the receipt of the above message a number of persons on the desert to the northwest of Cairo saw the aircraft afire in flight. The aircraft turned back as if intending to land at Cairo, but the fire rapidly increased, causing the burning engine to fall free. The crew attempted a night emergency landing in a desert area located about 100 km northwest of Cairo. The aircraft crashed and disintegrated on impact. All 55 occupants were killed, among them tourists, engineers and US diplomats.

Aircraft reference details include registration N6004C, MSN 2636, year of manufacture 1950.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 30.3752°, 30.3482°.