Middle East Airlines Flight 444 was a scheduled passenger flight between Beirut International Airport and Dhahran International Airport. On 17 April 1964, the flight, operated by a Sud Aviation Caravelle III crashed into the Persian Gulf about 19 km south–southeast of Dhahran International Airport. All 42 passengers and 7 crew members died in the crash.[1] The cause of the crash was never determined.
Aircraft and crew
The accident aircraft was a Lebanese-registered Sud Aviation Caravelle III, the only fleet in the airline, and bore the registration OD–AEM. It was certified airworthy until 29 January 1965, and a maintenance certificate was issued on 5 April. On the date of the crash, the aircraft had flown from Beirut to Ankara and back to its origin city after which some technical problems were fixed. The flight captain was a 33-year-old who had logged 9,193 hours in the air, of which, 235 hours on the Sud Aviation Caravelle. He had 10 hours and 35 minutes on OD–AEM. The co-pilot, aged 36, had flown for 7,691 hours and spent 70 hours on the Sud Aviation Caravelle; 29 hours was on the ill-fated aircraft.
Flight
Flight 444 departed Beirut International Airport at 1709 UTC and proceeded with its flight plan to a cruising altitude of 30,000 ft. Two hours later, Bahrain air control approved its decent to 5,000 ft over the Dhahran navigation beacon.