Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
PIA Boeing 720 at LHR 1964.jpg
A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 similar to the one involved in the accident
Accident
Date20 May 1965
SummaryControlled flight into terrain during approach; excessive descent - cause undetermined
SiteCairo International Airport, Egypt
30°07′19″N 31°24′20″E / 30.12194°N 31.40556°E / 30.12194; 31.40556
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 720B
OperatorPakistan International Airlines
RegistrationAP-AMH
Flight originKarachi Airport, Pakistan
2nd stopoverDhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia
3rd stopoverCairo International Airport, Egypt
Last stopoverGeneva Airport, Switzerland
DestinationLondon Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom
Passengers114
Crew13
Fatalities121
Injuries6
Survivors6

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 127 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed.

Accident

Wreaths laid at a memorial to the crash on 20 May 2013 by representatives from the Embassy of Pakistan to Egypt and local Pakistani community members

Flight 705 on 20 May 1965 was an inaugural flight between Karachi, Pakistan and London, United Kingdom and was carrying distinguished guests and journalists among the 114 passengers. The aircraft was scheduled to stop at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, Cairo and then Geneva before completing its journey to London. As the aircraft was on final approach to Cairo International Airport, the pilot reported problems with the flaps; shortly thereafter, the aircraft crashed southeast of the airport and broke up as it exploded into flames. Six of the passengers were thrown clear of the wreckage, but everyone else on board was killed. Among the dead was the Chinese aircraft designer Huang Zhiqian, who was chief designer of the fighter jet Shenyang J-8.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Boeing 720-040B with the registration AP-AMH and manufacturer's serial number 18379; it was first flown on 19 October 1962 and delivered to Pakistan International Airlines on 7 November 1962. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 8378 hours.

Investigation

On 26 May, local police reported that a transistor radio had been found in the wreckage of the aircraft with jewellery valued at $120,000 hidden in it.

The probable cause of the crash was that "the aircraft did not maintain the adequate height for the circuit and continued to descend until it contacted the ground. The reason for that abnormal continuation of descent is unknown."

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-07-06 07:10 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari