Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
An illustration of the Libyan Airlines' Boeing 727 flying over Sinai accompanied by two Israeli jet fighters
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| Shootdown summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 21 February 1973 |
| Summary | Airliner shootdown |
| Site | Sinai Peninsula |
| Passengers | 104 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 108 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 5 |
| 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. In 1973 a Boeing 727-200 that was serving this flight was shot down by Israeli fighter jets.
On 21 February 1973, the aircraft left Tripoli, and became lost because of a combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt. It entered airspace over the Sinai Peninsula (then occupied by Israel), 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.
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 in Benghazi the aircraft continued en route to Cairo with 113 people on board. Most of the passengers were Arabs but there were two Germans and an American on board.
Normally, the Benghazi–Cairo route was flown eastwards along the Libyan coast until reaching the city of Sidi Barrani in Egypt, where the airway turned inland to the Visual Operating Rules (VOR) and Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) area located west of Lake Qarun. The entry to the Cairo terminal area was made on a north-easterly heading over a 71-nautical-mile (131 km) long path that separated Lake Qarun from the Cairo VOR. At 13:45 the Cairo traffic control (CTC) saw the aircraft approaching from the west. Permission was granted to land in runway 23. CTC saw the Boeing heading eastward towards the Suez Canal at 13:50. The crew was forced to rely on instrument navigation because of a sandstorm. Both instrument and navigational error caused the aircraft to go off course, entering airspace dominated by Israel when flying over the Sinai Peninsula. By this time the aircraft had been lost from the Egyptian air traffic control. The crew believe they were close to the destination airport and started the descent.
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