 The crashed aircraft atLondon Heathrow Airport in 1997 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 7 April 1999 (1999-04-07) |
| Summary | Crashed shortly after takeoff due to instrument malfunction |
| Site | NearCeyhan,Adana Province, Turkey 37°12′N35°21′E / 37.200°N 35.350°E /37.200; 35.350 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-4Q8 |
| Aircraft name | Trakya |
| Operator | Turkish Airlines |
| IATA flight No. | TK5904 |
| ICAO flight No. | THY5904 |
| Call sign | TURKISH 5904 |
| Registration | TC-JEP |
| Flight origin | Adana Şakirpaşa Airport,Adana, Turkey |
| Destination | King Abdulaziz International Airport,Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Occupants | 6 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 6 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 was aBoeing 737-400 on an internationalrepositioning flight fromAdana Şakirpaşa Airport inAdana, Turkey, toKing Abdulaziz International Airport inJeddah, Saudi Arabia, which crashed on 7 April 1999 in the vicinity ofCeyhan,Adana Province, in southernTurkey, eight minutes aftertakeoff. The flight was on its way to Saudi Arabia to pick up pilgrims from Jeddah, and as such took off without any passengers on board. All six crew members were killed in the accident.
The aircraft was aBoeing 737-400, built in 1995, registered as TC-JEP, and namedTrakya. Owned byILFC, an American aircraft lessor, it was equipped with twoCFM International CFM56 engines and had accumulated around 11,600 flight hours in 6,360 flight cycles up until the time of the accident.[1]
The preceding flight fromKing Abdulaziz International Airport inJeddah,Saudi Arabia, had uneventfully transferred 150 pilgrims returning from thehajj toAdana Şakirpaşa Airport, where it landed at around 23:45EET (20:45UTC). Remaining on the ground for around one hour for refueling, Flight 5904 took off with a new crew – two pilots and fourflight attendants – and around 10 to 15 tons of fuel at 00:36 EET to pick up more pilgrims from Jeddah.[2]
Before takeoff, upon request by the crew, theair traffic controller atIncirlik Air Base relayed the weather report, informing the crew that the entireaerodrome was completely covered by thunderstorms and that the thunderstorms were moving from the south towards the north.[2]
At 00:44 EET, at an altitude of around 10,000 feet (3.0 km), the aircraft started to descend and crashed into a field some 30 nautical miles (56 km) east-northeast of the airport near Hamdilli village, in the vicinity ofCeyhan,Adana Province. The force of the impact created a 15 metres (49 ft) deep and 30 square metres (320 sq ft) large hole. Thehorizontal stabilizer of the aircraft was discovered some 250 metres (820 ft) away from the main wreckage, which was spread over an area of around 500 square metres (5,400 sq ft). All six occupants were instantly killed.[3][4][5]
The impact resulted in a large explosion that was reported near Hamdili. After the aircraft vanished from radar, air traffic controllers at Adana Airport and Incirlik Air Base immediately notified theGendarmerie and the police to initiatesearch and rescue efforts.
The investigation into the accident was carried out by Turkey'sDirectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Thecockpit voice recorder revealed that while the crew was struggling to regain control of the aircraft, at least some of the four flight attendants were inside thecockpit panicking and screaming. Thecopilot was heard telling the captain"aman ağabey, gittik, gidiyoruz, bas.." (which roughly translates into"Oh brother, we've gone, we're going, push...").[6]
The final report concluded that:[2][7]
- Severethunderstorms probably contributed to the accident.
- Thepitot static anti-ice system was probably not activated during preparations for flight.
- The crew failed to recognize the cause of erraticairspeed indication.
- The crew failed to use othercockpit indications for control and recovery of the airplane.
- The presence of cabin crew in the cockpit probably distracted the cockpit crew.
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