Air Algérie Flight 2208 was a cargo flight between Algiers-Houari Boumediene Airport,

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, and

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. On 13 August 2006, the

Lockheed L-100 The Lockheed L-100 Hercules is the civilian variant of the prolific C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft made by the Lockheed Corporation. Its first flight occurred in 1964. Longer L-100-20 and L-100-30 versions were developed, despite thi ...

operating the flight crashed in

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as a result of an autopilot malfunction. The aircraft struck the ground in a sparsely populated area after a very steep and rapid descent, narrowly avoiding crashing into a highly populated area. The crew of three on board were killed in the accident; there were no passengers, nor were there injuries or property damage on the ground.

Crew

The three Algerian crew members were 43-year-old Captain Mohamed Abdou, who had more than 8,200 hours of flight experience after being promoted to Captain in April 2005; 58-year-old First Officer Mohamed Tayeb Bederina, who had the most experience with more than 22,800 hours of flight time; and 51-year-old Flight Engineer Mustafa Kadid, who had more than 14,600 hours of flight time.

Accident

The 25-year-old aircraft, a

Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules The Lockheed L-100 Hercules is the civilian variant of the prolific C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft made by the Lockheed Corporation. Its first flight occurred in 1964. Longer L-100-20 and L-100-30 versions were developed, despite thi ...

, registration 7T-VHG, was operating a cargo service between Algiers-Houari Boumediene Airport and

as Flight 2208; it was flying over

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soil at when it began descending for unknown reasons. The pilot had informed that there was an engine loss of power prior to losing contact with the

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

while the aircraft was flying at . The pilot was able to direct the aircraft's descent towards a sparsely populated area. It struck the ground between Milan and

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in a village named Besurica, located in the outskirts of

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

. Upon impacting, the airframe broke in two. According to the ''

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

'', the impact was so devastating that the wreckage of the aircraft was strewn over several kilometres, while the loud noise of the crash was heard in the city proper. The impact created a crater long and wide. The upper portion of the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and parts of the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

were found and ahead of the impact point, respectively. The aircraft narrowly avoided crashing into highly populated areas, to the extent that the

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of Piacenza referred to the occurrence as a miracle. There were neither injuries nor property damage on the ground, but the crew of three on board lost their lives in the accident.

Investigation

The National Agency for the Safety of Flight (ANSV) started an inquiry, following the recovery of 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 colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

a week after the crash. The

flight data 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 colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

was also recovered, and results from its decoded ribbon showed that the aircraft was flying at cruising altitude with the

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

engaged, that it got disengaged twelve seconds after the autopilot failure light lit, and that both directional and longitudinal control was lost moments later, with the aircraft crashing 73 seconds after the light came on. The angle and the speed of the impact were estimated to be between 45° and 50° and in the range of , respectively.

Aftermath

Given that the aircraft flight data recorder (FDR) was a first generation one manufactured in the 1960s, it was not in compliance with

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

regulations. The ANSV urged the Algerian Civil Aviation Authority to replace older FDRs with newest ones.

Footnotes

Notes

References

External links

* * National Agency for the Safety of Flight **
Incidente L-100-30 precipitato vicino a Piacenza: emanata una raccomandazione di sicurezza
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1 February 2007. **
Rinvenuto FDR del Lockheed L-100-30 precipitato lo scorso agosto
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11 October 2006. **
Incidente aereo a Piacenza. Deceduti gli occupanti
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14 August 2006. **
Rapporto informativo sull'attività svolta dall'agenzia anno 2007
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Rapporto informativo sull'attività svolta dall'agenzia anno 2006
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Air Algerie Flight 2208 Air Algérie accidents and incidents Airliner accidents and incidents caused by instrument failure Aviation accidents and incidents in 2006 Aviation accidents and incidents in Italy August 2006 in Italy Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed C-130 Hercules 2006 disasters in Italy