Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 127 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed.^[2]

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

A PIA 720, similar to the one involved.
Accident
Date	20 May 1965
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain during approach; excessive descent - cause undetermined[1]
Site	near Cairo International Airport, Egypt 30°07′19″N 31°24′20″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 720B
Operator	Pakistan International Airlines
IATA flight No.	PK705
ICAO flight No.	PIA705
Call sign	PAKISTAN 705
Registration	AP-AMH
Flight origin	Karachi Airport, Pakistan
2nd stopover	Dhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia
3rd stopover	Cairo International Airport, Egypt
Last stopover	Geneva Airport, Switzerland
Destination	London Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom
Occupants	127
Passengers	114
Crew	13
Fatalities	121
Injuries	6
Survivors	6

The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Egypt at the time, and is now the third-deadliest. It is also the deadliest aviation disaster involving the Boeing 720.

Accident

Wreaths laid at a memorial to the crash on 20 May 2013 by representatives from the Embassy of Pakistan to Egypt and local Pakistani community members

Flight 705 on 20 May 1965 was an inaugural flight between Karachi, Pakistan and London, United Kingdom and was carrying distinguished guests and journalists among the 114 passengers.^[3] The aircraft was scheduled to stop at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, Cairo and then Geneva before completing its journey to London.^[3] As the aircraft was on final approach to Cairo International Airport, the pilot reported problems with the flaps; shortly thereafter, the aircraft crashed southeast of the airport and broke up as it exploded into flames.^[3] Six of the passengers were thrown clear of the wreckage, but everyone else on board was killed.^[3] Among the dead was the Chinese aircraft designer Huang Zhiqian, who was chief designer of the fighter jet Shenyang J-8.^[4][5]

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Boeing 720-040B^{[note 1]} with the registration AP-AMH and manufacturer's serial number 18379; it was first flown on 19 October 1962 and delivered to Pakistan International Airlines on 7 November 1962.^[6] At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 8378 hours.^[6]

Investigation

On 26 May, local police reported that a transistor radio had been found in the wreckage of the aircraft with jewellery valued at $120,000 hidden in it.^[7]

The probable cause of the crash was that "the aircraft did not maintain the adequate height for the circuit and continued to descend until it contacted the ground. The reason for that abnormal continuation of descent is unknown."^[8]

See also

• Pakistan portal
• Egypt portal
• Aviation portal

• Aviation safety
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft

Notes

1. The aircraft was a Boeing 720B model; at the time this aircraft was built, Boeing assigned a unique code for each company that bought one of its aircraft, which was applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft was built, hence "720-040B".