Air Algérie Flight 702P

Air Algérie/Phoenix Flight 702P
Accident summary
Date	21 December 1994
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Coventry-Baginton, England
Passengers	0
Crew	5
Fatalities	5
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-2D6C
Aircraft name	Oasis
Operator	Air Algérie
Registration	7T-VEE

Air Algérie/Phoenix Flight 702P, named Oasis and registered 7T-VEE, was a Boeing 737 owned by Air Algérie and leased by Phoenix Aviation which crashed on 21 December 1994 near Coventry Airport, England. All five on board were killed.

History

On the day of the accident, the aircraft departed Amsterdam for a routine flight to Coventry, where live animals were to be loaded on board for export to the Netherlands and France. Weather at Coventry was poor and deteriorated steadily during the day; by the time the aircraft reached the Coventry area, the runway visual range for the main runway at Baginton Airport was only 700 metres. The aircraft was not properly equipped to receive the updated radio-navigational broadcast for the runway in question, so the pilots elected to be guided in by a radar controller using Surveillance Radar Approach (SRA). This was unsuccessful and the captain elected to call a missed approach and eventually divert to the East Midlands Airport.

Approximately 90 minutes after landing at East Midlands, visibility at Coventry improved significantly. The flight departed East Midlands at 9:38 local time in order to make a second attempt to land at the scheduled destination. During the second SRA-guided approach, the aircraft descended well below the glide slope and collided with an 86-foot (26 m)-high electricity transmission tower situated on the extended centreline of the runway approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from the runway threshold. The collision caused severe damage to the left engine and to the structure of the left wing; the aircraft rolled to the left and dropped, clipping a house before crashing into an area of woodland and catching fire.

Aftermath

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) determined that the accident was caused by the flight crew allowing the aircraft to descend significantly below the minimum descent height for the approach without gaining sight of the approach lighting or runway threshold. The AAIB also found that the crew had failed to cross-check altimeter height indications during the approach, that the non-handling pilot failed to call out the minimum descent height as the aircraft reached that altitude, and that the flight crew's performance had been impaired by the effects of fatigue.^[1]

Plaque on Middle Ride

A brass plaque remembering the event is now located in Middle Ride, close to the crash scene, which was erected on the 10th anniversary of the accident by the Willenhall Wood Residents Association.^[2]

References

↑ "Report on the accident to Boeing 737-2D6C, 7T-VEE at Willenhall, Coventry, Warwickshire on 21 December 1994" (PDF). Air Accidents Investigation Branch. Retrieved 21 November 2008. (Archive)
↑ "Aeroplane crash dead remembered". BBC. 2004-12-21. Retrieved 2011-06-11.

Bibliography

Air Accidents Investigation Branch

External links

Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network

← 1993
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1994 (1994)
1995 →

Jan 3 Baikal Airlines Flight 130
Jan 7 Atlantic Coast Airlines Flight 6291
Feb 28 Banja Luka incident
Mar 17 Iranian Air Force C-130 shootdown
Mar 20 British Army Lynx shootdown
Mar 23 Aeroflot Flight 593
Mar 23 Green Ramp disaster
Apr 4 KLM Cityhopper Flight 433
Apr 6 Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira
Apr 7 Federal Express Flight 705
Apr 14 Black Hawk shootdown
Apr 26 China Airlines Flight 140
Jun 2 RAF Chinook crash
Jun 6 China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303
Jun 24 Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash
Jun 30 Airbus Industrie Flight 129
Jul 1 Air Mauritanie Flight 625
Jul 2 USAir Flight 1016
Jul 19 Alas Chiricanas Flight 901
Aug 21 Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
Sep 8 USAir Flight 427
Oct 12 Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746
Oct 31 American Eagle Flight 4184
Nov 3 SAS Flight 347
Nov 22 TWA Flight 427
Dec 11 Philippine Airlines Flight 434
Dec 13 Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
Dec 19 Nigeria Airways Flight 9805
Dec 21 Air Algérie Flight 702P
Dec 24–26 Air France Flight 8969
Dec 29 Turkish Airlines Flight 278

Coordinates: 52°23′04″N 1°27′10″W / 52.38443°N 1.45289°W / 52.38443; -1.45289

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