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Lockheed L-1011-200 Tristar accident report

Tuesday 19 August 1980 Saudi Arabian Airlines L1011-200 HZ-AHK c/n 1169

Domestic passenger flight SV163 from Riyadh (RUH), Saudi Arabia to Jeddah (JED), Saudi Arabia with 14 crew and 287 passengers. Six minutes and 54 seconds after take-off smoke was detected in the aft cargo hold. The aircraft returned to Riyadh but soon smoke was coming into the passenger cabin causing panic with the passengers. The flight crew managed to land the aircraft but were little reluctant in starting the evacuation immediately, shutting down the engines first. And by then it was too late and all perished on board. The source of the fire in the cargo bay could not be determined.

Airframe hrs : 2948 cycles : 1718 engines : RB211-524B2 First flight : 13 July 1979

location : +-100m 24°43’56”N 46°43’44”E

Monday 22 December 1980 Saudi Arabian Airlines Tristar 200 HZ-AHJ c/n 1161

Flight 162 from Dhahran (DHA), Saudi Arabia to Karachi (KHI), Pakistan with 20 crew and 271 passengers. While climbing through 29.000 ft the aircraft an explosive decompression occurred. An emergency descent was initiated, and the aircraft landed safely at Doha apt, Qatar. Two passengers were killed when they were ejected from the aircraft through a hole in the cabin floor. Probable cause of this accident was an in-flight, fatigue failure of a main landing gear inboard wheel flange. First flight : 22 January 1979. location : +-10 km 25°16’23”N 51°36’25”E