Saudia Flight 163

Saudia Flight 163

A Saudia L-1011 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident.
Accident summary
Date	19 August 1980
Summary	In-flight fire in cargo hold, pilot error
Site	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Passengers	287
Crew	14
Fatalities	301 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar
Operator	Saudia
Registration	HZ-AHK
Flight origin	Quaid-e-Azam Int'l Airport Karachi, Pakistan
Stopover	Riyadh International Airport Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Destination	Jeddah International Airport Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

External image

Airliners.Net Picture of Saudia 163

Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled passenger flight of Saudia that caught fire after takeoff from Riyadh International Airport (now the Riyadh Air Base) on a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, 19 August 1980. All 287 passengers and 14 crew on board the Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar, registration HZ-AHK, died after the aircraft made an emergency landing back at the Riyadh airport.

At the time, the accident was the second deadliest single aircraft disaster in history, after Turkish Airlines Flight 981. It's the sixth deadliest aircraft disaster overall, after the Tenerife airport disaster, Japan Airlines Flight 123, the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, Turkish Airlines Flight 981, and Air India Flight 182. It was also the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Saudi Arabia and the highest death toll of any accident involving a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar anywhere in the world. It is also the deadliest aviation disaster that did not involve a crash on impact or mid-flight break up.

Saudi officials said that most of the passengers were Saudis or Pakistanis, with many of the passengers being Pakistani religious pilgrims. The aviation directorate stated that 82 of the passengers boarded in Karachi and, of the passengers who boarded in Riyadh, 32 were religious pilgrims from Iran. Diplomats in Jeddah said that in addition to the Iranian, Saudi and Pakistani passengers, there were four Koreans, three Britons, two Thais, one Finn, one French, one Spanish, one Italian, one Chinese, one German, one Canadian, one Taiwanese, one Irishman, one Dutchman, two Americans and one Japanese on board the flight. The crew included six Filipinos, three Pakistanis, and one Briton. Both the captain, 38-year-old Mohammed Ali Khowyter, and the co-pilot, 26-year-old Sami Abdullah M. Hasanain, were Saudi nationals. The flight engineer was 42-year-old Bradley Curtis.