UTA Flight 772
Route taken by UTA Flight 772.
|
|
| Bombing summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 19 September 1989 |
| Summary | Terrorist bombing |
| Site |
Ténéré, Niger 16°51′54″N 11°57′13″E / 16.86493°N 11.953712°ECoordinates: 16°51′54″N 11°57′13″E / 16.86493°N 11.953712°E |
| Passengers | 156 |
| Crew | 14 |
| Fatalities | 170 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 |
| Operator | Union des Transports Aériens (UTA) |
| Registration | N54629 (United States) |
| Flight origin |
Maya-Maya Airport Brazzaville, People's Republic of the Congo |
| Last stopover |
N'Djamena Int'l Airport N'Djamena, Chad |
| Destination |
Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris, France |
UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union de Transports Aériens was a scheduled international passenger flight operating from Brazzaville in the People's Republic of the Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
On Tuesday, 19 September 1989 the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft took off from N'Djamena International Airport at 13:13. Forty-six minutes later, at its cruising altitude of 10,700 metres (35,100 ft), a bomb explosion caused UTA Flight 772 to break up over the Sahara Desert 450 km east of Agadez in the southern Ténéré of Niger (map location incorrect, coordinates are correct). All 156 passengers and 14 crew members died. It is the deadliest aviation incident to occur in Niger and the fourth-deadliest involving a DC-10, after Air New Zealand Flight 901, American Airlines Flight 191, and Turkish Airlines Flight 981.
The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, registration N54629, serial number 46852, was manufactured in 1973. The 125th DC-10 off of the production line, the airframe had accumulated 14,777 flight cycles over 60,276 flight hours (a flight cycle is equal to a take-off and climb to pressurization altitude, and then a descent and landing, and is a measure of pressurization fatigue on the hull, regardless of actual time spent flying) at the time of its hull loss.
On the flight deck were Captain Georges Raveneau, as instructor; First Officer Jean-Pierre Hennequin in training; safety pilot Michel Crézé; and Flight Engineer Alain Bricout. In the cabin were Pursers Jean-Pierre Baschung and Michele Vasseur, along with Flight Attendants Alain Blanc, Laurence de Boery-Penon, Martine Brette, Anne Claisse, Nicole Deblicker, Ethery Lenoble, Gael Lugagne, Veronique Marella, Jean-Pierre Mauboussin.
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Wikipedia