Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 was a

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

on an international

repositioning flight Ferry flying is the flying of aircraft for the purpose of returning to base, delivery to a customer, moving from one base of operations to another or moving to or from a maintenance facility for maintenance, repair, and operations. A commercial ...

from

Adana Şakirpaşa Airport Adana Airport or Adana Şakirpaşa Airport ( tr, Adana Havalimanı) is an international airport located in Adana, Turkey. The airport serves mainly to Cilicia region and in a lesser extent to the provinces surrounding Cilicia, due to its frequent ...

Adana, Turkey Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...

King Abdulaziz International Airport King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) ( ar, مطار الملك عبدالعزيز الدولي) is an international airport serving Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also known as "Jeddah International Airport"( ar, مطار جدة الدولي). T ...

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's promi ...

which crashed on 7 April 1999 in the vicinity of

Ceyhan Ceyhan () is a city and a district in the Adana Province, in southern Turkey, east of Adana. With a population of over 157,000, it is the largest district of the province, outside the city of Adana. Ceyhan is the transportation hub for Middle Ea ...

Adana Province Adana Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey located in central Cilicia. With a population of 2.26 million, it is the sixth most populous province in Turkey. The administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 79% of the r ...

in southern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

some eight minutes after

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...

. The flight was on its way to Saudi Arabia to pick up pilgrims from Jeddah, and as such took off without any passengers on board. All six crew members were killed in the crash.

Flight

The aircraft was a

, built in 1995, registered as TC-JEP, and named ''Trakya''. Owned by

ILFC The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US. It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General El ...

, an American aircraft lessor, it was equipped with two

CFM International CFM56 The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...

engines and had accumulated around 11,600 flight hours in 6,360 flight cycles up until the time of the crash. The preceding flight from

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

had uneventfully transferred 150 pilgrims returning from the

hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

, where it landed at around 23:45

EET "Eet" is a song from Regina Spektor's fifth studio album, ''Far (album), Far''. It was released as the album's second official single in October 2009. In Europe it was released as a digital download on November 27, 2009. Music video A Viral vide ...

(20:45 UTC). Remaining on the ground for around one hour for refueling, Flight 5904 took off with a new crew – two pilots and four

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

s – and around 10 to 15 tons of fuel at 00:36 EET to pick up more pilgrims from Jeddah. Before takeoff, upon request by the crew, the

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

Incirlik Air Base Incirlik Air Base ( tr, İncirlik Hava Üssü) is a Turkish air base of slightly more than 3320 ac (1335 ha), located in the İncirlik quarter of the city of Adana, Turkey. The base is within an urban area of 1.7 million people, east of t ...

relayed the weather report, informing the crew that the entire

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

was completely covered by thunderstorms and that the thunderstorms were moving from the south towards the north.

Crash

At 00:44 EET, at an altitude of around , the aircraft started to descend and crashed into a field some east-northeast of the airport near Hamdilli village, in the vicinity of

. The force of the impact created a deep and large hole. The

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

of the aircraft was discovered some away from the main wreckage, which was spread over an area of around . All six occupants were instantly killed. The crash resulted in a large explosion that was reported near Hamdili. After the aircraft vanished from radar, air traffic controllers at Adana Airport and Incirlik Air Base immediately notified the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

and the police to initiate

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

efforts.

Investigation

The investigation into the accident was carried out by Turkey's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

revealed that while the crew was struggling to regain control of the aircraft, at least some of the four flight attendants were inside the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

panicking and screaming. The

copilot In aviation, the first officer (FO), also called co-pilot, is the pilot who is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command o ...

was heard telling the captain ''"aman ağabey, gittik, gidiyoruz, bas.."'' (which roughly translates into ''"Oh brother, we've gone, we're going, push..."'').

Final report

The final report concluded that:

References

{{Turkish Airlines Airliner accidents and incidents caused by ice Aviation accidents and incidents in 1999 Aviation accidents and incidents in Turkey 5904 1999 in Turkey Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Classic Aviation accidents and incidents caused by loss of control Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather History of Adana Province 1999 meteorology April 1999 events in Europe