Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604
Boeing 737-260 · Belly landing following dual engine failure caused by bird strike
From Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD) to Asmara International Airport (ASM)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 35 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 104
- Survivors
- 69
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 27
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 737-260
- Flight
- ET604
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- ET-AJA
- Operator
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 35
- Route
- From Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD)To Asmara International Airport (ASM)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604 was a scheduled Addis Ababa–Bahir Dar–Asmara flight operated by a Boeing 737-200 in which the aircraft caught fire during a belly landing in a clearing near Bahir Dar Airport, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, on 15 September 1988.
Accident description
On 15 September 1988, the aircraft was scheduled to operate the second leg of a domestic Addis Ababa–Bahir Dar–Asmara passenger service with 98 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Both engines of the aircraft ingested a flock of speckled pigeons as it took off from Bahir Dar Airport, and subsequently overheated. One of the engines immediately lost thrust, while the other did so on the emergency return to the departure airport. However, the plane crashed 2 miles before reaching the runway. During the gear-up landing, the aircraft caught fire. Thirty-five passengers died, but all of the crew survived.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604” (revision 1375165321, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604
- Revision
- 1375165321 · 2026-09-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4055748
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604" (page 26163859, revision 1375165321)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.