Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
ATR 42-312 · Suicide by pilot
From Al Massira Airport (AGA) to Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)
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
- 44 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 44
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
ATR 42-312
- Aircraft type
- ATR 42
- 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
- CN-CDT
- Operator
- Royal Air Maroc
- Onboard fatalities
- 44
- Route
- From Al Massira Airport (AGA)To Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 was a passenger flight on 21 August 1994 which crashed approximately ten minutes after takeoff from Agadir–Al Massira Airport in Morocco. All 44 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the deadliest ATR 42 aircraft crash at that point in time. An investigation showed that the crash was deliberately caused by one of the pilots.
Flight
Flight 630 was a scheduled flight from Agadir, Morocco to Casablanca using an ATR 42 aircraft. At approximately 10 minutes into the flight while climbing through 16000 ft, the aircraft entered a steep dive, and crashed into a region of the Atlas Mountains about 32 km north of Agadir.
The crash site was at Douar Izounine, about 32 km north of Agadir. Among the 40 passengers on board were a Kuwaiti prince, Ali al-Humoud al-Jaber al-Sabah, and his wife. The prince was the brother of Ahmed al-Humoud al-Jaber al-Sabah, then Kuwait's minister of defence.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The commission that investigated the crash determined it to be pilot suicide. Flight recorder data revealed that the ATR 42's autopilot was intentionally disconnected by Captain Khayati, who then deliberately put the aircraft into a dive. Evidence also showed that during the descent, First Officer Figuigui had sent out distress calls once aware of the captain's intentions. The Moroccan pilots union disputed the suicide explanation, claiming that Captain Khayati was mentally fit and showed no signs of frustration, and instead claiming that Captain Khayati reported a "technical problem" prior to takeoff, although the investigative commission never found evidence supporting this claim.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Royal Air Maroc Flight 630” (revision 1374340057, 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: Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
- Article
- Royal Air Maroc Flight 630
- Revision
- 1374340057 · 2026-09-11 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7373628
- 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 "Royal Air Maroc Flight 630" (page 31935631, revision 1374340057)
- 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
- flight number in the article title
- 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.