"Saudia Flight 163 (SV 163) was a scheduled flight on 19 August 1980 from Riyadh airport bound for Jeddah. The aircraft was on the second and final leg of its flight from Karachi to Jeddah with a scheduled stop in Riyadh. The aircraft, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar with 287 passengers and 14 crew members, took off from Riyadh at 2108 Local Time. The initial climb of the aircraft was uneventful. However, 7 minutes after take off, alarms sounded in the cockpit indicating smoke in the rear C3 cargo compartment. The crew decided to return to Riyadh and reported the fire in the aircraft to Air Traffic Control. The aircraft landed in Riyadh at 2126 but inexplicably taxied till the end of the runway and turned off to a taxiway instead of making an immediate stop. Precious time was further wasted before the engines were completely shut down. No attempt was made by the crew to open the doors from the inside and it was only at 2205, 29 minutes after touch down, that the fire and rescue personnel was able to open one of the aircraft doors from the outside. But soon after, a massive fire burst out from the aircraft, destroying the entire aircraft. All 301 people on board including 15 infants died. The crash led to some major changes in the design of aircraft cargo compartments and use of on-board fire extinguishers. Please go through the presentation for more details."

Rajeev Soman

25 resources

3

7

1

Like