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Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202

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Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202
Aircraft, similar to the one involved in this incident, photographed while under operation by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in 1954.
Occurrence
Date21 November 1959[1]
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
SiteAramoun, Lebanon[1]
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-4[1]
OperatorAriana Afghan Airlines[1]
RegistrationYA-BAG[1]
Flight originBeirut International Airport, Lebanon
1st stopoverMehrabad International Airport, Iran
2nd stopoverKandahar International Airport, Afghanistan
DestinationKabul International Airport, Afghanistan
Passengers22
Crew5
Fatalities26 (24 initially, 2 in hospital)[1]
Survivors1[1]

Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202 (YA-BAG) was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Lebanon to Afghanistan on 21 November 1959. It took off from Beirut and was destined for Kabul, with a stopover at Mehrabad in Iran and another stopover at Kandahar in Afghanistan. Two minutes after takeoff,[1] the aircraft, a Douglas DC-4, crashed into the side of a hill in Aramoun. The impact caused a fire to break out in the cabin, killing 24 of the flight's 27 total occupants on the scene. The three initial survivors were taken to a hospital in Beirut shortly after the crash, and two of them later succumbed to their injuries.

Investigation

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An investigation was launched into the cause of the crash; the report found that a day earlier, after arriving from Frankfurt, West Germany, the flight was delayed for 20 hours due to technical difficulties. Two causes were proposed:[1]

  • Navigational error: the pilot did not properly execute a right turn as early as he should have, either because he forgot or was distracted by some unusual occurrence;
  • Fire in the No. 1 engine, which induced the pilot to start emergency actions with a resulting reduction in the rate of turn and climb.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-4 YA-BAG Beirut". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
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