Dubai International Airport - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

• On 14 March 1972, Sterling Airways Flight 296 crashed on approach to Dubai, killing 112.
• In November 1974, British Airways Flight 870, a Vickers VC10, from Dubai to Heathrow, was hijacked in Dubai, landing at Tripoli for refuelling before flying on to Tunis. One hostage was murdered before the hijackers eventually surrendered after 84 hours. Captain Jim Futcher was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal, the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators Founders Medal, the British Air Line Pilots Association Gold Medal and a Certificate of Commendation from British Airways for his actions during the hijacking, having returned to the aircraft to fly it knowing the hijackers were on board.
• On 3 July 1988, Iran Air Flight 655, which was on a Tehran-Bandar Abbas-Dubai route, was shot down by USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai. All 290 passengers and crew, including 66 children, were killed in this incident. The Vincennes was traversing the Straits of Hormuz inside Iranian territorial waters and at the time of the attack, IR655 was within Iranian airspace. The USS has announced that the event was a misidentifying of a passenger flight with attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. The Iranian government maintained that the Vincennes "knowingly" shot down the civilian aircraft.
• On 28 July 2001, a man named Djamel Beghal was arrested at Dubai International Airport while transferring from a flight from Pakistan to a flight to Europe. Beghal admitted to UAE interrogators that he was part of the Paris embassy attack plot. The Al-Qaeda suspect was taken to France, where he recanted parts of his statement. The plot was dismantled by French, Belgian, and Dutch authorities.
• Part of the airport's Terminal 3 collapsed on 28 September 2004 during the construction phase. The terminal was designed by Paul Andreu, a French architect who also designed Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
• On 12 March 2007, the nose gear of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Flight BG006 (LHR-DXB-DAC), an Airbus A310-300, collapsed while the aircraft was accelerating down the runway. The plane was carrying 236 passengers and crew. Fourteen people suffered minor injuries in the accident. The aircraft came to rest at the end of the runway and was evacuated, but the accident crippled the only active runway and forced the airport to close for eight hours, affecting 71 flights.
• On 22 May 2010, Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737-8HG operating a scheduled service to Mangalore, India departed Dubai at 1:15 and reached Mangalore on time at 6:30 but crashed on landing, resulting in at least 160 fatalities. The aircraft overran the runway at Mangalore.
• On 3 September 2010, UPS Flight 6, operated by Boeing 747-44AF N571UP crashed shortly after take-off, killing both crew and destroying the aircraft. N571UP was operating an international cargo flight to Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany.