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Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103

Coordinates: 32°39′59″N 13°17′44″E / 32.66639°N 13.29556°E / 32.66639; 13.29556
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Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103
Accident
Date22 December 1992
SummaryMid-air collision
SiteNear Tripoli International Airport, Tripoli, Libya
32°39′59″N 13°17′44″E / 32.66639°N 13.29556°E / 32.66639; 13.29556
Total fatalities159
Total survivors2
First aircraft

5A-DIA, the Boeing 727 involved, in May 1986
Type Boeing 727-2L5[note 1]
OperatorLibyan Arab Airlines
Registration5A-DIA
Flight originBenina International Airport
DestinationTripoli International Airport
Occupants159
Passengers145
Crew14
Fatalities159
Survivors0
Second aircraft

A Libyan Air Force MiG-23, similar to the one involved
TypeMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB
Operator Libyan Air Force
Registration8428
Occupants2
Crew2
Fatalities0
Survivors2

Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 was a Boeing 727-2L5 with 14 crew members — 5 of them relief crew —[1]: 8  and 147 passengers on board that collided with a LARAF Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB on 22 December 1992. All 159 people on board flight 1103 were killed, while the pilot and instructor of the MiG-23 ejected and survived.[1]: 8  It was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Libya at the time.[2]

Aircraft

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The first aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-2L5, MSN 21050, registered as 5A-DIA, that was manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 1975. It was equipped with three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engines.

The second aircraft involved was a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB, registered as 8428.

Crash

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On 22 December 1992, Flight 1103 took off from Benina International Airport near Benghazi on a domestic flight to Tripoli International Airport under the command of 41-year-old Captain Ali al-Feqi, who had accumulated 10,933 flight hours, 9,223 of them on the Boeing 727;[1]: 10  the first officer, 32-year-old Mahmoud Eissa, with a total of 1,820 flight hours, 478 of them on the Boeing 727;[1]: 11  and 36-year-old Flight Engineer Salem Abu-Sitta, with 2,399 flight hours, all of which were on the Boeing 727.[1]: 12 

At an altitude of 3,161 ft (960 m) above sea level, during the Boeing 727's approach to Tripoli airport, the aircraft’s tail collided with a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23’s right wing and disintegrated, resulting in the deaths of all 159 passengers and crew.[3] The two crew members of the MiG-23, Major Abdul-Majid al-Tayari (38);[1]: 16  and Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Abu-Sneina (32),[1]: 17  ejected before impact and survived.[1]: 36 

Investigation and aftermath

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The official explanation and air accident investigation report both blamed a collision with a Libyan Air Force MiG-23;[1]: 48  the pilot and instructor of the MiG were imprisoned.[4]

After the crash, a spokesman for the Libyan Civil Authority stated he had been forbidden from releasing any information about the crash, including which planes had been involved.[5] A mass grave was prepared for the victims outside of Tripoli with poor international relations denying the bodies of international victims being returned to their families.[6]

Twenty years later, after the fall and death of Muammar Gaddafi, Major al-Tayari, the instructor in the MiG-23 aircraft, challenged the official version of events, claiming that Flight 1103 was deliberately destroyed, because he saw its tail falling before his aircraft suffered a strong impact (from either the shockwave of the explosion that destroyed the Boeing 727 or a piece of wreckage) and he was forced to eject from his aircraft along with his trainee, Lieutenant Colonel Abu-Sneina.[7] In a statement, al-Tayari claimed there was no air collision, but conceded that the planes were too close to one another.[8]

Ali Aujali, who served as a Libyan diplomat both under Gaddafi and under the subsequent National Transitional Council, claims that Gaddafi ordered that the Boeing 727, whose flight was assigned the number 1103, be shot down exactly four years to the day after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in order to demonstrate the negative effects of international sanctions imposed on Libya.[9] According to Aujali, the dictator originally ordered a bomb with a timer to be in the aircraft, but when this failed to explode, he "ordered the [aircraft] to be knocked out of the sky".[10] The widow of one British victim has claimed Libyan families of victims had asked if she had tested her husband's passports for explosive residue.[11]

Memorials

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The first memorial for the crash was held near Tripoli, Libya in 2012.[11] The ceremony was attended by families and friends of the victims, and politicians.[12]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The aircraft was a Boeing 727-200 model; Boeing assigns a unique code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft is built, hence "727-2L5" for a Boeing 727-200 built for Libyan Arab Airlines.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "تقرير – حادث تصادم بين طائرة الخطوط الجوية العربية الليبية من طراز بوينج (727-200) ذات حروف التسجيل (5A-DIA) وطائرة عسكرية من طراز (ميج 23) ورقم تسجيلها 8428 بتاريخ 22-12-1992م. قرب مطار طرابلس العالمي" [Report – Collision between a Boeing 727-200 Libyan Arab Airlines aircraft with registration number 5A-DIA and a MiG-23 military aircraft with registration number 8428 on 22-12-1992. Near Tripoli International Airport] (PDF). caa.ly (in Arabic). Libyan Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  2. ^ Ranter, Harro. "Aircraft accident Boeing 727-2L5 5A-DIA Tripoli International Airport (TIP)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  3. ^ Sharqieh, Ibrahim (December 2013). "Reconstructing Libya: Stability Through National Reconciliation" (PDF). Brookings Doha Center Analysis Paper: 1–41. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  4. ^ Simpson, Paul (2014). The Mammoth Book of Air Disasters and Near Misses. London: Robinson. ISBN 978-1780338286.
  5. ^ "Libyan jet crashes, killing 158, apparently after mid-air collision". UPI. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  6. ^ El Shammaa, Dina (18 June 2011). "Victim's wife wants Gaddafi tried for role in 1992 aircraft collision". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  7. ^ Campbell, Glenn (4 January 2013). "Calls to re-open Libya plane 'crash' investigation". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  8. ^ "'No mid-air collision' in 1992 Libya air disaster". HeraldScotland. 5 January 2013. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Flight 1103". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  10. ^ Olgiati, Christopher (2 February 2014). "Libya: Muammar Gaddafi's secrets finally revealed". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  11. ^ a b Borland, Ben (22 July 2012). "Tests could reveal Gaddafi bomb plot". Express.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  12. ^ "20 years on, families want truth of 'Libyan Lockerbie'". MoroccoWorldNews (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
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