Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

{{Infobox aircraft occurrence

| name = Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

| image = CN-CDT.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| caption = The plane involved at Tenerife South Airport a few months before crashing

| occurrence_type = Occurrence

| date = {{start date|1994|08|21|df=y}}

| summary = Suicide by pilot

| site = Douar Izounine, Morocco

| coordinates = {{coord|30|36|00|N|9|19|00|W|type:event|display=inline,title}}

| aircraft_type = ATR 42-312

| operator = Royal Air Maroc

| tail_number = CN-CDT

| origin = Agadir-Al Massira International Airport

| destination = Casablanca-Mohamed V Airport

| occupants = 44

| passengers = 40

| crew = 4

| fatalities = 44

| survivors = 0

}}

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.

Background

= Aircraft =

The aircraft involved was an ATR 42-312 which had its maiden flight on 20 January 1989. The aircraft was delivered to Royal Air Maroc on 24 March the same year. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 turboprop engines.{{Cite web|url=https://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-atr-127.htm|title=Royal Air Maroc CN-CDT (ATR 42/72 - MSN 127)|website=www.airfleets.net|publisher=Airfleets aviation|access-date=2019-12-14}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/atr-atr-42-cn-cdt-royal-air-maroc/rq1vny|title=CN-CDT Royal Air Maroc ATR 42|website=www.planespotters.net|access-date=2019-12-14}}

= Crew =

The captain was 32-year-old Younes Khayati, who had 4,500 flight hours. The first officer was Sofia Figuigui.{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/48a2561425d9dc93fb44943195cf391d|title=Pilot's Death Wish Doomed Moroccan Plane; Romantic Problems Cited|work=AP NEWS|access-date=2019-12-14|publisher=Associated Press|location=Rabat, Morocco}}

Flight

Nationality ! Passengers ! Crew ! Total
class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%" \|+ Victims' nationalities
Morocco	style="text-align:center;" \|20	style="text-align:center;" \| 4	style="text-align:center;" \|24
Italy	style="text-align:center;" \|8	{{n/a
}}	style="text-align:center;" \| 8
France	style="text-align:center;" \|5	{{n/a
}}	style="text-align:center;" \| 5
Netherlands	style="text-align:center;" \| 4	{{n/a
}}	style="text-align:center;" \| 4
Kuwait	style="text-align:center;" \| 2	{{n/a
}}	style="text-align:center;" \| 2
United States	style="text-align:center;" \| 1	{{n/a
}}	style="text-align:center;" \| 1
Total ! 40 ! 4 ! 44

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 {{convert|16000|ft|m|abbr=}}, the aircraft entered a steep dive, and crashed into a region of the Atlas Mountains about {{convert|32|km|mi nmi|abbr=}} north of Agadir.

The crash site was at Douar Izounine, about {{convert|32|km|mi nmi|abbr=}} north of Agadir. Among the 40 passengers on board were a Kuwaiti prince and his wife. The prince was the brother of Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, then Kuwait's minister of defence.{{Cite news|date=23 August 1994|title=Kuwaiti Prince dies in crash|page=5|work=The Daily Telegraph|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dLFKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XJQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5883,5233835&dq=air+maroc+kuwait+prince&hl=en|access-date=5 November 2013|via=Google News}}

Investigation

The commission that investigated the crash determined it to be pilot suicide.{{Cite news|date=25 August 1994|title=Crash that killed 44 was pilot suicide|page=14|work=Altus Times|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OwJCAAAAIBAJ&sjid=caoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1754,6528136&dq=air+maroc+suicide&hl=en|access-date=5 November 2013|via=Google News}} 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.{{Cite news|author=Sinha|first=Shreeya|date=March 26, 2015|title=A History of Crashes Caused by Pilots' Intentional Acts|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/26/world/history-plane-crashes-pilots.html|access-date=2015-04-18|issn=0362-4331|quote=Moroccan authorities said that Younes Khayati, 32, the pilot of a Royal Air Maroc ATR-42 aircraft, intentionally disconnected the plane's automatic navigation systems on Aug. 21, 1994, and crashed the plane into the Atlas Mountains shortly after takeoff, killing all 44 people aboard. ...}} Evidence also showed that during the descent, First Officer Figuigui had sent out distress calls once aware of the captain's intentions.{{Cite web |date=1994-08-25 |title=Air crash 'was pilot suicide' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/air-crash-was-pilot-suicide-1378692.html |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=The Independent |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Ranter |first=Harro |title=ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-312 CN-CDT Tizounine |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19940821-1 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=aviation-safety.net}}{{Cite news|date=27 August 1994|title=Prove suicide accusation, union tells crash probers|page=A4|work=The Deseret News|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nhtOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=huwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7107,5244459&dq=air+maroc+suicide&hl=en|access-date=5 November 2013|via=Google News}} The crash was the deadliest incident involving an ATR 42 aircraft at that point in time.{{Cite web|last=Ranter|first=Harro|title=Incident description|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19940821-1|website=aviation-safety.net|publisher=Aviation Safety Network}}