Status: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Date: | Sunday 29 August 1999 |
Time: | 13:31 UTC |
Type: | Learjet 35A |
Operator: | Corporate Jets |
Registration: | N350JF |
MSN: | 35A-219 |
First flight: | 1979 |
Total airframe hrs: | 5434 |
Cycles: | 3657 |
Engines: | 2 Garrett TFE731-2-2B |
Crew: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Passengers: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
Total: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
Location: | 25 km (15.6 mls) S of Adwa ( Ethiopia)
|
Phase: | En route (ENR) |
Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
Departure airport: | Luxor Airport (LXR/HELX), Egypt |
Destination airport: | Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO/HKJK), Kenya |
Narrative:Learjet N350JF was to be ferried from Naples and Luxor to Lanseria via Nairobi. An IFR flight plan was filed from Luxor to Nairobi, via Asmara, then directly over Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, on Upper Golf 650 airway, but because of the border-crossing prohibition a second flight plan was filed via Djibouti. At 13:30 UTC the crew reported over Asmara at FL450 estimating Assab, at 14:06, then Parim, at 14:14, en route to Djibouti. Somehow, the Learjet strayed off its intended course and moved deep inside Ethiopian no-fly zone from Eritrea's airspace. Ethiopian military forces thought the plane was Eritrean and decided to shoot down the plane using an anti-aircraft battery.
Probable Cause:
Probable Cause: "While flying in a no-fly zone- a route closed by a NOTAM- N350JF was mistaken for an Eritreaian fighter aircraft with a hostile intention, and hence was hit by a missile fired by the Ethiopian Defense Force and destroyed."
Accident investigation:
|
Investigating agency: | CAA Ethiopia |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Accident number: | AI-4/99 | Download report: | Final report
|
|
Classification:
Shot down from the ground
Loss of control
Sources:
» Criminal Acts Against Civil Aviation 1999 / FAA, Office of Civil Aviation Security
» NTSB
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Luxor Airport to Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as the crow flies is 3017 km (1885 miles).
Accident location: Exact; as reported in the official accident report.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.