Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114

Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114

An illustration of the Libyan Airlines' Boeing 727 flying over Sinai accompanied by two Israeli jet fighters
Shootdown summary
Date	21 February 1973
Summary	Airliner shootdown
Site	Sinai Peninsula
Passengers	104
Crew	9
Injuries (non-fatal)	5
Fatalities	108
Survivors	5
Aircraft type	Boeing 727–224
Operator	Libyan Arab Airlines
Registration	5A-DAH
Flight origin	Tripoli International Airport
Last stopover	Benghazi Airport
Destination	Cairo International Airport

Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 (LN 114) was a regularly scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo via Benghazi. An aircraft serving this flight was shot down by Israeli fighter jets in 1973.

At 10:30 on 21 February 1973, the 727–224 left Tripoli, and became lost because of a combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 pm local). It entered Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula, where it was intercepted by two Israeli F-4 Phantom IIs, and was shot down after refusing to co-operate. Of the 113 people on board, there were five survivors, including the co-pilot. The shootdown was the deadliest aviation disaster since the Kano air disaster earlier that year, which killed 176 passengers and crew.

Account

File:Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 5A-DAH.jpg

5A-DAH in 1972

Operated with a Boeing 727–224, registration 5A-DAH, Flight 114 was an international scheduled Tripoli–Benghazi–Cairo passenger service. There was a crew of nine on board the aircraft. The pilot-in-command, named Jacques Bourges and aged 42, was French, as were four other crew members. The entire crew was under a contractual arrangement between Air France and Libyan Arab Airlines. After a brief stop at Benghazi in eastern Libya, the aircraft continued en route to Cairo with 113 people on board.

As the airliner cruised over northern Egypt, a large sandstorm below forced the crew to rely completely on instrument navigation. A short time later, around 13:44, the pilot suspected that he had made a navigational error because of a compass malfunction: he could not find an air traffic beacon, and could not ascertain the plane's current location. He did not report his worries to Cairo air traffic control. Instead, at 13:52 he received permission from Cairo to begin his descent. Pushed by strong tailwinds, the aircraft had drifted east, and was flying over the Suez canal. Sinai (to the east of the canal) had been occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were on high alert; Israel was in a state of war with Egypt at the time, and thought it suspicious that no Egyptian missiles had been fired at the plane, nor MiGs scrambled to intercept it. Also, the aircraft was approaching the airspace over the highly secretive Dimona nuclear facility, where Israel was allegedly producing nuclear weapons, and Israel was hypersensitive about the facility.

At 13:54, Flight 114 entered airspace over the Sinai desert, cruising at 20,000 feet (6,100 m). Two minutes later, two Israeli Air Force F-4 fighters were scrambled to investigate and they intercepted the airliner at 13:59. The Israeli fighter pilots attempted to make visual contact with the passenger airliner's crew, and tried to communicate to them by signaling with their hands, dipping their wings and firing warning shots, that they should follow the F-4s back to Rephidim Air Base. The 727 crew's response was interpreted as a denial of that request. The 727 turned back to the west, and the Israeli pilots interpreted this as an attempt to flee.

The Israeli F-4 pilots fired bursts of 20mm rounds with the F-4's cannon. The rounds severely damaged control surfaces, hydraulic systems, and the wing structure itself. Flight 114 crashed while attempting an emergency landing in an area covered with sand dunes. Following an explosion near the right main landing gear during the crash, 108 of the 113 people aboard died.

Aftermath

The co-pilot, who survived, later said that the flight crew knew the Israeli jets wanted them to land but relations between Israel and Libya made them decide against following instructions. In direct contradiction to the co-pilot's own account the Libyan government stated that the attack occurred without warning. Israel's air force claimed that Flight 114 was a security threat, and that among the possible tasks it could have been undertaking was an aerial spy mission over the Israeli air base at Bir Gifgafa.

The Israeli government also revealed that LN 114 was shot down with the personal authorization of David Elazar, the Israeli Chief of Staff. Israel's argument was that the heightened security situation and the erratic behavior of the jet's crew made the actions taken prudent. Contrary to what the Israeli government revealed, in his book By Way of Deception, Ostrovsky claimed that the chief of the air force could not be found and the decision to shoot down the airliner was made by a captain. The United Nations did not take any action against Israel. The 30 member nations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) voted to censure Israel for the attack. The United States did not accept the reasoning given by Israel, and condemned the incident. Israel's Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan, called it an "error of judgment", and Israel paid compensation to the victims' families.

See also

• List of airliner shootdown incidents