47 Years ago today: On 22 December 1973 a Royal Air Maroc Caravelle crashed into a mountain while approaching Tangier; killing 106 occupants.
| Date: | Saturday 22 December 1973 |
| Time: | 22:10 |
| Type: | Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle VI-N |
| Operating for: | Royal Air Maroc – RAM |
| Leased from: | Sobelair |
| Registration: | OO-SRD |
| C/n / msn: | 69 |
| First flight: | 1961-02-23 (12 years 10 months) |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 99 / Occupants: 99 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 106 / Occupants: 106 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | ca. 40 km E of Tangier-Boukhalef Airport (TNG) ( |
| Crash site elevation: | 701 m (2300 feet) amsl |
| Phase: | En route (ENR) |
| Nature: | Int’l Non Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LBG/LFPB), France |
| Destination airport: | Tangier-Boukhalef Airport (TNG/GMTT), Morocco |
Narrative:
Sobelair’s Caravalle OO-SRD was leased to Royal Air Maroc on December 10, 1973. On December 22 it operated on a flight from Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LBG) to Casablanca, Morocco with an enroute stop at Tangier (TNG). The Caravelle approached Tangier in darkness and rain when the pilot extended the outbound procedural turn for runway 28 too far east, causing the plane to overfly hazardous terrain. At 22:10 the aircraft flew into the side of Mount Mellaline near Tétouan at 2300 feet.
It was considered possible that the aircraft had lost altitude as a result of turbulence or vertical mountain waves.
