13 January 2000 - Avisto Airlines

The Shorts 360, registration HB-AAM, had been leased to Sirte Oil Co in Libya to transport workers between its headquarters and various oil fields.

The aircraft departed Tripoli at 12.29h. En route to Marsa el-Brega the crew noted a fuel imbalance and did a cross feed until fuel was balanced again at 14.17h. The descent from FL70 was started at 14.25h. Eleven minutes later both engines flamed out. The aircraft was ditched off the Libyan coast in a 10deg nose up attitude. The tail broke off and the wreckage sank inverted to a depth of 38m, about 3 miles from the coast.

According to the Libyan investigation report, the captain and co-pilot, who both survived, were so busy talking about how to fly the Fokker F-28 aircraft that they failed to switch on the anti-icing system for the engines as weather conditions deteriorated. As the aircraft came in to land, ice that had been allowed to build up melted, flooding the engines and cutting off the power. A device that might have restarted the engines was not switched on. There were no lifejackets on board and many of the dead drowned because they were unaware that their seat cushions doubled as floats.

Transcript of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)

14.35:41 Captain Approach checks yes
14.35:43 F/o Air conditioning ok are off. Ok seat belt sign
14.35:50 Captain On
14.35:51 F/o Landing lights
14.35:51 Captain Both on
14.35:54 F/o Weather radar
14.35:55 Captain On stand by mode
14.36:01 F/o Cabin report
14.36:03 Captain Next
14.36:18 F/o S21, AM
14.36:22 ATC Go ahead
14.36:24 F/o Ok (yaxboda) wind check please
14.36:29 ATC 090 variable 120 at 20 kts
14.36:32 F/o Shukrn
14.36:57 Captain Ah, ah
14.36:57 F/o (Shino hada)
14.36:58 (sound of autopilot disconnect)
14.36:58 Captain We just had an engine failure
14.37:00 F/o You are not kidding.
14.37:01 F/o Oil pressure going low
14.37:03 Captain Power
14.37:04 F/o Ok
14.37:05 Captain Ok power on the right engine
14.37:11 F/o Ok,checked
14.37:12 (warning sound)
14.37:21 Captain Ok gears and flaps are up
14.37:23 F/o Yes
14.37:25 Captain Confirm left engine failure
14.37:26 F/o Confirmed.
14.37:27 Captain Shut down left engine
14.37:28 F/o Ok
14.37:28 (sound of engine running down)
14.37:29 Captain Oh,oh, my god
14.37:33 F/o What happened
14.37:34 F/o Right generator
14.37:35 Captain Both failures, two engine failures
14.37:38 F/o Yes
14.37:39 Captain Just call call Marsa Brega
14.37:40 F/o Yah, S-21 AAM
14.37:45 Captain Dalila, prepare for emergency landing we have two engine failures
14.37:46 (warning sound)
14.37:48 F/o Ok, we lost engine (ya) abdo ssalam
14.37:50 Captain Two engines
14.37:52 F/o Two engines, we lost two engines (wanahna) approaching the coast line
14.37:56 Captain My god
14.37:57 Captain Try to restart
14.37:57 F/o OK
14.37:58 Captain Try to restart
14.38:00 (several warning sounds, a.o. GPWS during 22 seconds)
14.38:10 Captain Oh, my god
14.38:17 Captain Open the emergency exit hateh (ya) bashfr
14.38:19 F/o ok (hadi) ?
14.38:21 Captain Yes
14.38:22 F/o (ya) bashir
14.38:23 (sound of opening of emergency hatch)
14.38:25 F/o (aiwa)
14.38:26 F/o OK we are ditching (fi albahr) ya
14.38:30 F/o (ya rab)
14.38:32 ATC Confirm emergency
14.38:34 F/o Emergency (fi albahr)
14.38:34 Sound of impact and end of recording