The majority of the casualties in this 1992 aviation accident were not passengers on the aircraft.
More than three decades have passed since El Al Flight 1862 crashed shortly after taking off from Amsterdam on October 4, 1992. This aviation disaster caused extensive damage and left an unforgettable tragedy for the people of the Netherlands.
Cargo Flight
On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862 was scheduled to make two cargo flights originating from JFK Airport in New York, USA. After a stopover at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) for refueling and crew change, it would proceed on its second leg from Amsterdam to the national airline’s hub in Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV).
El Al 1862 carried only 4 people, the rest was cargo. (Illustrative image)
During the first leg of the flight, the aircraft encountered an unfortunate incident when it suddenly experienced an autopilot speed oscillation. Additionally, the crew was reported to have dealt with radio wave issues, as well as voltage fluctuations from the aircraft’s third engine. However, the flight landed safely in Amsterdam at 14:40 local time without any damage.
After completing the crew change and refueling process, the aircraft took off at 18:14, significantly later than the originally scheduled departure time of 17:30.
Catastrophic Accident
Although the takeoff was successful, just minutes later, the Boeing encountered a horrific incident. Specifically, after climbing to an altitude of 1,981 meters, at 18:28, engine number 3 of the aircraft (and its corresponding pylon) suddenly detached from the wing.
Engines 3 and 4 suddenly separated from the aircraft. (Reconstruction from a documentary).
When engine number 3 detached from the wing, it inadvertently collided with the nearby engine number 4, causing engine number 4 and its pylon to also detach from the aircraft. At that moment, the crew believed that the engine had merely lost power and had not fully separated. They immediately declared an emergency and requested to return to Schiphol Airport and land on runway 27.
However, their hopes were never realized as the aircraft gradually lost control due to the loss of the engine. Ultimately, El Al Flight 1862 crashed into the ground and tragically collided with two apartment blocks in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood of Amsterdam at 18:35, resulting in a severe fire.
The aircraft collided directly with the apartment building and exploded. (Reconstruction from a documentary).
The horrific scene at the apartment building struck by the aircraft.
This devastating collision resulted in the deaths of 4 people on board (2 pilots, 1 aircraft engineer, and 1 El Al staff member traveling as a passenger), 39 people on the ground, and 26 others injured.
After a thorough investigation, experts discovered that the cause of the aircraft engine failure was the failure of the fuse pins securing the engine pylons, which had cracked due to overload. This resulted in engine number 3 detaching, subsequently leading to the separation of engine number 4.
