United Arab Airlines Flight 749

United Arab Airlines Flight 749 was a

scheduled international passenger flight on 18 United Arab Airlines Flight 749
March 1966 that crashed while attempting to land
in Cairo, Egypt. All thirty passengers and crew on
board were killed.

Contents
Crash
Investigation
See also
A United Arab Airlines Antonov An-24 at Cairo, Flight
References 749's intended destination
External links Accident
Date 18 March 1966
Summary Pilot error, poor weather
Crash
Site near Cairo, Egypt

Flight 749 took off from Nicosia Airport bound Aircraft

for Cairo International Airport. En route, the Aircraft type Antonov An-24
aircraft encountered bad weather, and conditions Operator United Arab Airlines
were poor in Cairo due to the presence of
Registration SU-AOA
sandstorms. The crew of Flight 749 contacted
Mirsair's Operations about diversion options. The Flight origin Nicosia Airport, Nicosia, Cyprus
flight crew also reported they were flying through Destination Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt
thunderstorms with icing conditions, that two of Passengers 25
the aircraft's altimeters were giving different Crew 5
readings, the magnetic compass being
Fatalities 30
unserviceable, and that there was a crack in a
cockpit window panel due to the thunderstorms. Injuries 0
After diverting was discussed, Flight 749 Survivors 0
continued to Cairo. The flight was cleared for a
Runway 23 approach but crashed approximately 5 kilometres from it. Everyone on board Flight 749
perished in the accident.

After the crash, the sandstorm hampered rescue operations. Visibility was near zero and rescue vehicles
became bogged down in the drifting sands.[1][2]

Among those killed in the crash was Yemen's Agriculture Minister, Ali Mohammad Abdou.[3]

Investigation
Accident investigators determined that "the accident arose from the descent of the aircraft below the safe
flight altitude in the final approach and the impact of the port wing against the sand dunes lying to the
northeast of the aerodrome. As a result the pilot lost control of his aircraft and hit the ground.

It is probable that the cause of descent of the aircraft below the safe level was due to the change from IFR to
VFR, taking into consideration that considerable time would have been needed for the pilot to have adapted
to this change in the prevailing weather conditions."[4]

See also
Stavropolskaya Aktsionernaya Avia Flight 1023, another aviation disaster involving an Antonov
An-24 which took place exactly 31 years after Flight 749.

References
1. Plane crashes in sandstorm; 30 fear perish (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mwxSA
AAAIBAJ&sjid=9TQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6637,3356541&dq=nicosia+plane+crash&hl=en)
2. Fear 30 flying to Cairo die in sandstorm (http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/03/19/page/4
4/article/fear-30-flying-to-cairo-die-in-sandstorm)
3. Crash kills Minister, 29 others (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vjA_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=
cFEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4322,2452546&hl=en)
4. Aircraft accident Antonov 24B SU-AOA Cairo (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id
=19660318-0)

External links
United Arab Airlines Flight 749 at Airdisaster.com (https://web.archive.org/web/201211030905
26/http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03181966&reg=---&airline=United
+Arab+Airlines)

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This page was last edited on 18 March 2020, at 04:14 (UTC).

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