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{{short description|1992 mid-air collision}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}{{more citations needed|date=November 2015}}{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}

factoids

| plane2_tailnum = 8428| plane2_origin = | plane2_stopover = | plane2_stopover0 = | plane2_stopover1 = | plane2_stopover2 = | plane2_stopover3 = | plane2_laststopover = | plane2_destination = | plane2_passengers = | plane2_occupants = 2| plane2_crew = 2| plane2_fatalities = 0| plane2_survivors = 2 }}Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 was a Boeing 727-200 with 10 crew and 147 passengers on board that collided with a LARAF Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB on 22 December 1992. All 157 people on board flight 1103 were killed, while the crew of the MiG-23 ejected and survived. It was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Libya at the time.WEB, Aircraft accident Boeing 727-2L5 5A-DIA Tripoli International Airport (TIP),weblink Ranter, Harro, aviation-safety.net, Aviation Safety Network, 24 April 2010, 30 July 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130730104347weblink">weblink live,

Crash

On 22 December 1992 Flight 1103 took off from Benina International Airport near Benghazi on a domestic flight to Tripoli International Airport under the command of 41-year-old Captain Ali al-Faqih, 32-year-old First Officer Mahmoud Issa, and 36-year-old Flight Engineer Salem Abu-Sitta. At an altitude of {{convert|3500|ft|m|-1|abbr=on}} during the Boeing 727's approach to Tripoli airport, the aircraft tail collided with a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 right wing and disintegrated, resulting in the death of all 157 passengers and crew.JOURNAL, Sharqieh, Ibrahim, December 2013, Reconstructing Libya: Stability Through National Reconciliation,weblink Brookings Doha Center Analysis Paper, 1–41, 28 May 2018, 29 May 2018,weblink live, The two crew members of the MiG-23, 38-year-old Major Abdul-Majid al-Tayari and 32-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Abu-Sneina, ejected before impact and survived.

Investigation and aftermath

The official explanation and air accident investigation report both blamed a collision with a Libyan Air Force MiG-23; the pilot and instructor of the MiG were imprisoned.WEB,weblink Collision report between Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727-200 (5A-DIA) and military aircraft MiG-23 (8428 on 22 December 1992, near Tripoli International Airport, caa.ly, Libyan Civil Aviation Authority, ar, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160321163101weblink">weblink 21 March 2016, 21 September 2019, BOOK, The Mammoth Book of Air Disasters and Near Misses, Simpson, Paul, Robinson, 2014, 978-1780338286, London, After the crash, a spokesman for the Libyan Civil Authority stated he had been forbidden from releasing any information about the crash, including which planes had been involved.NEWS,weblink Libyan jet crashes, killing 158, apparently after mid-air collision, UPI, 28 May 2018, en, 29 May 2018,weblink live, A mass grave was prepared for the victims outside of Tripoli with poor international relations denying the bodies of international victims being returned to their families.NEWS, El Shammaa, Dina, 18 June 2011, Victim's wife wants Gaddafi tried for role in 1992 aircraft collision, Gulf News,weblink dead, 28 May 2018,weblink 30 May 2018, Twenty years later, after the fall and death of Muammar Gaddafi, Major al-Tayari, the instructor in the MiG-23 aircraft, challenged the official version of events, claiming that Flight 1103 was deliberately destroyed, because he saw its tail falling before his aircraft suffered a strong impact (from either the shock wave of the explosion that destroyed the Boeing 727 or a piece of wreckage) and he was forced to eject from his aircraft along with his trainee, Lieutenant Colonel Abu-Sneina.NEWS, Campbell, Glenn, 4 January 2013, Calls to re-open Libya plane 'crash' investigation, BBC News, BBC,weblink 20 June 2018, 23 July 2018,weblink live, In a statement al-Tayari claims there was no air collision, but conceded that the planes were too close to one another.WEB,weblink 'No mid-air collision' in 1992 Libya air disaster, HeraldScotland, en, 28 May 2018, 29 May 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180529054057weblink">weblink live, Ali Aujali, who served as a Libyan diplomat both under Gaddafi and under the National Transitional Council, claims that Gaddafi ordered that the Boeing 727, whose flight was assigned the number 1103, be shot down exactly four years to the day after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in order to demonstrate the negative effects of international sanctions imposed on Libya.WEB,weblink Flight 1103, www.aljazeera.com, 28 May 2018, 5 August 2019,weblink live, According to Aujali, the dictator originally ordered a bomb with a timer to be in the aircraft, but when this failed to explode, he "ordered the [aircraft] to be knocked out of the sky".NEWS, Olgiati, Christopher, 2 February 2014, Libya: Muammar Gaddafi's secrets finally revealed, BBC News, BBC,weblink 2 February 2014, 3 February 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140203025634weblink">weblink live, The widow of one British victim has claimed Libyan families of victims had asked if she had tested her husband's passports for explosive residue.NEWS,weblink Tests could reveal Gaddafi bomb plot, Borland, Ben, 22 July 2012, Express.co.uk, 28 May 2018, en, 29 May 2018,weblink live,

Memorials

The first memorial for the crash was held near Tripoli, Libya in 2012. The ceremony was attended by families and friends of the victims, and politicians.NEWS,weblink 20 years on, families want truth of 'Libyan Lockerbie', MoroccoWorldNews, 28 May 2018, ar, 21 June 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180621093215weblink">weblink dead,

See also

• Hughes Airwest Flight 706
• All Nippon Airways Flight 58
• Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907
• 1983 Negev mid-air collision
• Iran Air Flight 655
• 1993 Tehran mid-air collision
• 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster

Notes

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References

• "Boeing 727 Crashes in Libya". Flight International, 6–12 January 1993. p. 8.

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External links

• {{YouTube|id=SXPhAAvnOLM|title=Al-Jazeera documentary on Flight 1103}}

{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1992}}{{Aviation incidents and accidents in Libya}}