Sterling Airways Flight 296

Sterling Airways Flight 296

A Sterling Airways Sud Aviation Caravelle similar to OY-STL.
Occurrence summary
Date	March 14, 1972
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Near Kalba, United Arab Emirates
Passengers	106
Crew	6
Fatalities	112
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Sud Aviation Caravelle
Operator	Sterling Airways
Registration	OY-STL
Flight origin	Colombo International Airport, Colombo, Ceylon
1st stopover	Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Bombay, India
2nd stopover	Dubai Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
3rd stopover	Esenboğa International Airport, Ankara, Turkey
Destination	Copenhagen Airport, Copenhagen, Denmark

On March 14, 1972, Sterling Airways Flight 296 crashed into a mountain ridge on approach to Dubai near Kalba, United Arab Emirates. Flight 296 was a charter flight from Colombo to Copenhagen with stops in Bombay, Dubai, and Ankara. All 112 passengers and crew on board died in the crash which was attributed to pilot error. The flight was operated by a Sud Aviation Caravelle, registration OY-STL. It remains the deadliest air disaster in the history of the United Arab Emirates.

Accident

Sterling Airways Flight 296 was chartered by the tour company Tjaereborg Rejser to take 106 Europeans home from vacations in Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). The flight from Colombo to Copenhagen was scheduled to make refueling stops in Bombay, Dubai, and Ankara. A change of crew was also scheduled during the stop in Ankara.

The 106 passengers were from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and West Germany. The Danish crew of 6 consisted of Captain Ole Jorgensen, 35, First Officer Jorgen Pedersen, 30, Flight Attendant Lone Bernth, 22, Flight Attendant Karin Troelstrup, 23, Flight Attendant Johanne Wohlk, 24, and Mechanic Poul Johansen, 28.

Flight 296 departed from Colombo on time at 17:20 local time for Bombay. At 19:45, it landed in Bombay. The passengers were not allowed to deplane during the stop in Bombay. After refueling Flight 296 departed Bombay for the next stop in Dubai at 21:20.

Shortly before 22:00 local time, Flight 296 began the approach into Dubai. The weather in Dubai was cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Dubai's ILS system was down due to runway construction. The air traffic controller instructed the crew to use the VOR for runway 30. At 22:04, the crew radioed that the VOR was not properly working. Shortly afterwards the left wing hit a mountain ridge. In the impact the left wing broke off. The plane flew another 265 meters before impacting below the top of the next ridge. The wreckage slid down the slope and ended up in five different valleys. There were no survivors among the 106 passengers and 6 crew members.

Nationalities of the passengers & crew

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
Danish	68	6	74
Swedish	20	-	20
Norwegian	12	-	12
Finnish	4	-	4
West German	2	-	2
Total	106	6	112

Sources:

Cause

The investigation found that the pilots descended below the minimum prescribed altitude. This was due to incorrect information on the outdated flight plan and/or due to a misreading of the weather radar which led the pilots believe they were closer to Dubai than they actually were.

External links

• (Danish) Final accident report (Archive) - Government of Denmark, Lufthfartsdirektoratet.
• The worst air disaster in the history of the United Arab Emirates (Danish).