Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202
 Douglas DC-4 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in 1954, similar to the one involved in the Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202 disaster. | |
| Occurrence summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 21, 1959[1] |
| Site | Near Beirut, Lebanon[1] |
| Passengers | 22 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 24[1] |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 3[1] |
| Survivors | 3 (2 died later at hospital) |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-4[1] |
| Operator | Ariana Afghan Airlines[1] |
| Registration | YA-BAG[1] |
| Flight origin | Beirut International Airport, Lebanon |
| Destination | Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan |
Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202, a Douglas DC-4, registration YA-BAG, was an international scheduled flight from Lebanon, bound for Afghanistan with scheduled stops in Mehrabad Airport, Iran, and Kandahar International Airport, Afghanistan. On November 21, 1959, two minutes after takeoff on runway 18,[1] the aircraft crashed into the side of a hill at hills of Aramoun near Beirut. A small cabin fire erupted shortly after the crash, killing 24 of the 27 passengers on board. The 3 surviving passengers were taken to hospital in Beirut. 2 of which later died at the hospital.
Cause
The investigation found that the day before November 20, 1959, after a flight from Frankfurt, the flight was delayed for 20 hours due to technical difficulties. Two causes were proposed:[1]
- A navigational error in that the pilot did not right turn out as early as he should have, either because he forgot or because he was distracted by an unusual occurrence.
- A fire indication (or possibly a fire) in No. 1 engine which induced the pilot to start fire emergency action with a resulting reduction in the rate of turn and the rate of climb.