User:Herbert394/sandbox/Middle East Airlines Flight 444

Herbert394/sandbox/Middle East Airlines Flight 444
	An Air France Caravelle III, similar to the aircraft that crashed
Accident
Date	17 April 1964
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain, cause of the accident is unconfirmed.
Site	Approximately 7km off-shore in the Persian Gulf
Total fatalities	49
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III
Operator	Middle East Airlines
Registration	OD-AEM
Flight origin	Beirut International Airport, Lebanon
Destination	Dhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia
Occupants	49
Passengers	42
Crew	7
Fatalities	49
Survivors	0

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Middle East Airlines Flight 444 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Beirut International Airport to Dhahran International Airport that struck the Persian Gulf during final approach on 17 April 1964. The aircraft, a Sud Aviation Caravelle III, was destroyed and resulted in the death of all 42 passengers and 7 crew, a total of 49 fatalities.^[2] At the time of the crash, it was the worst aviation accident in Saudi Arabia and is currently recorded as the eighth deadliest in the country and the twelfth deadliest involving the Caravelle.^[1]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III with registration OD-AEM and manufacture serial number 23.^[3] It was powered by 2 Rolls-Royce Avon RA-29/3 Mk.527 turbofan engines and was originally built for Air France with registration F-BHTJ. The aircraft, named “Champagne”, took its first flight on 18 January 1960, meaning that it was 4 years and 3 months old at the time of the accident. It was delivered to the airline on 9 February 1960.^[4] After being converted to series III standards in 1961, it was leased to Middle East Airlines on 20 January 1964.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft had a valid Lebanese certificate of registration, a certificate of airworthiness valid until 29 January 1965 and a certificate of maintenance issued on 5 April 1964.^[5]

Accident

The aircraft departed Beirut International Airport at 17:09 GMT and flew according to its flight plan at flight level 300. At the time of the flight, there was a strong sand storm over Dhahran with wind speed blowing up to 40 knots and visibility of less than 100m.^[4] At 19:04 GMT, the crew reported to Bahrain Control that they were expecting to arrive at Dhahran in 24 minutes and was cleared to descend to flight level 50. Two minutes after, it contacted Dhahran Tower and requested the latest wind and visibility. The wind was reported as blowing in the north-northeast (NNE) direction at 10 knots, gusting up to 16 knots and visibility as being 0.5 nautical miles (NM).Both Bahrain and Dhahran air traffic control did not have radar so they couldn't track the aircraft's flight path.The aircraft passed Dhahran NDB at 19:28 and reported "5000 feet descending".^[5] The plane then made a left turn to intercept the instrument landing system (ILS) one minute later. It passed 2500 feet at 19:30 and was cleared for final approach by air traffic control who requested the pilots to report when they have the runway in sight. Instead of a confirmation, the controller heard a short, loud noise 2 minutes later at 19:32.