Kam Air Flight 904

Infobox Airliner accident|name=Kam Air Flight 904
Date=February 3, 2005
Type=Undetermined
Site=Pamir Mountains
Fatalities=104
Aircraft Type=Boeing 737-200
Origin=Herat Airport
Destination=Kabul International Airport
Operator=Kam Air
Tail Number=EX-037
Passengers=96
Crew=8
Survivors=0

Kam Air Flight 904 was involved in a deadly aviation disaster over the Pamir mountains of Afghanistan in February 2005. The incident took place shortly after 4:00 p.m. on February 3 (local time), when a private Kam Air Boeing 737-200 jet aircraft went missing in Afghanistan during a domestic flight from the western city of Herat to the capital Kabul. The crash is the deadliest air disaster in the history of Afghanistan.

The aircraft lost communication during a heavy snowstorm, in fact the worst snowstorm for 5 years. The cause of the loss of communication, and the subsequent crash, is presently unknown. Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah stated that his guerrilla fighters had not shot down the plane and expressed sadness at the crash. Air traffic control for the Kabul area is provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Near to Kabul is Bagram Air Base, which has been in control of the U.S. military forces. It was possible for flight 904 to have diverted and land at Bagram Air Base instead of Kabul International Airport.

A rescue operation was launched under atrocious weather conditions by the ISAF and Afghan National Army (ANA), and the tail of the plane was sighted from two Dutch Apache helicopters at around 9:30 a.m. UTC.

The ISAF made numerous unsuccessful rescue attempts by helicopters. But when technology failed, the Afghan National Army responded with boots on the ground.

Following the crash, the Afghan Ministry of Defense ordered the ANA's Central Corps to assemble a team to attempt a rescue of victims presumed to be alive. The crash site was at an altitude of 11,000 feet on the peak of the Chaperi Mountain, 20 miles east of the Afghan capital of Kabul. [U.S. Department of Defense - [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=25895 Afghan National Army Assists in Plane Crash Aftermath] , By Sgt. 1st Class Mack Davis, USA Special to American Forces Press Service]

It was finally discovered that all 104 passenger and crew on board were killed, and the plane was completely destroyed. The flight data recorder had been found and turned over to US National Transportation Safety Board analysis. The cockpit voice recorder which would confirm or deny the alleged request and denial to land at Bagram Air Base has not been located.

Of the 104 people on board, 96 were passengers and eight were crew. At least 25 were foreign nationals: 9 Turkish, 6 Americans, 4 Russians, 3 Italians, 1 Dutch, and 1 Iranian, as well as the first officer, who held dual citizenship in Canada and Russia. According to reports, the Russians were crew members, the Turkish were civilians working for Turkey-based firms, and the Italians included an architect working for the United Nations Andrea Pollastri, as well as another Italian civilian and a navy captain. Three of the six Americans on board were women working for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Management Science for Health company, and one was a Dutch water resources engineer, team-leader for a development project in the western basins.

Kam Air is a private airline established in 2003 operating a fleet of leased Boeing and Antonov aircraft on both domestic and international routes. The plane that crashed during flight 904 was a Boeing 737-200 registered EX-037, which was originally delivered to Nordair as C-GNDR in 1980. It had been leased by Kam Air from Phoenix Aviation, a firm based at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

ee also

*CFIT

References

External links

* [http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4172175/detail.html Univ of Denver Grad on Flight 904]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/03/world/main671642.shtml CBS report]
* [http://reuters.com/newsSearchResultsHome.jhtml;jsessionid=OMT0XGWH3JPZQCRBAELCFEY?query=KAM+Air&qtype=a&x=11&y=12 Reuters Reports]
* [http://www.suntimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket7st/basket7st1107771139.aspx Bodies Found] dead link|date=January 2008|url=http://www.suntimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket7st/basket7st1107771139.aspx
* [http://www.flykamairline.com Kam Air]
* [http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1108408951.html Black Box given to US NTSB]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-2-2005_pg4_18 Owners of Afghan crash plane blame weather]