1985 Alyemda Boeing 707 accident

The 1985 accident of an Alyemda Boeing 707 occurred on 15 August 1985. On that day an Alyemda Boeing 707-336C on an international scheduled flight from Aden to Abu Dhabi went out of control in flight and into an abnormal attitude. The aircraft was brought back under control and made a safe emergency landing at Aden Airport, but three people died in the incident.

Accident sequence

The aircraft took off from Aden Airport at around 13 o'clock. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of 23,000 feet. The weather was good and visibility was good. The aircraft was being flown with the autopilot engaged. Having reached cruising altitude, the pilots moved their seats back for a more comfortable seating position. The captain asked a flight attendant to hand him a glass of water. When the captain received the glass of water, it slipped from his hand and the water spilled over the autopilot panel. Thereupon the stabiliser trim wheels suddenly began to turn. This led to a rapid pitch-up manoeuvre in which the aircraft's nose rose abruptly. As a result, the occupants of the aircraft were exposed to strong gravitational forces and were pressed into their seats.

The captain then called to the first officer to disengage the autopilot, whereupon the first officer replied that he could not reach the autopilot panel. The pilots could not reach the controls because their seats were reclined and the strong gravity prevented them from moving them. In the cabin, the standing flight attendants and several unbelted passengers were thrown backwards. Because of the high bank angle, a stall occurred the next moment. The stabiliser trim wheels continued to turn erratically.

Although the aircraft continued to descend because of the stall, the pilots managed to bring it into a level attitude and regain control of the aircraft. They disengaged the autopilot, set the trim wheel and pushed the aircraft's nose down in order to recover the aircraft from the stall. The aircraft gained lift, but the pilots had only little time and altitude left. The situation became increasingly critical. At a height of just under 1,000 feet they finally managed to bring the aircraft into a stable attitude and to contact air traffic control, to return to Aden Airport and to make an emergency landing there. Two passengers and a female flight attendant died of severe trauma they had suffered during the loss of control of the aircraft. Several passengers were injured.