Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771

Aircraft The aircraft involved was an Airbus A330-202 registered as 5A-ONG with serial number 1024, fitted with two General Electric CF6-80E1A4 engines. It entered service with Afriqiyah Airways on 15 September 2009. At the time of the accident, it had logged approximately 2,175 hours total flying time in 572 take-off and landing cycles. It was configured for a capacity of 230 passengers and 13 crew, including 30 business class seats and 200 economy class seats. Crew The flight crew consisted of: • The captain was 57-year-old Yousef al-Saadi (pilot not flying, PNF). He was hired by Afriqiyah Airways in 2007 and had logged 17,016 flight hours, 516 of which were logged on the Airbus A330. • The first officer was 42-year-old Tareq Abu-Shawashi (pilot flying, PF). He had 4,216 flight hours, including 516 hours logged on the Airbus A330. • The relief first officer was 37-year-old Nazem al-Tarhuni (PNF). He had 1,866 flight hours, 516 of which were logged on the Airbus A330. All three crew members had logged 516 hours on the Airbus A330. ==Flight and accident==

Flight 771 was an international long-haul flight that originated at O. R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa's largest city of Johannesburg to Tripoli International Airport in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. On this flight, al-Saadi was the monitoring pilot, while Abu-Shawashi was in charge of the aircraft controls. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and post-crash fire. ==Passengers==

The passengers aboard Flight 771 were of various nationalities. All of the eleven crew members were Libyans. At least three passengers, one from Ireland and two from United Kingdom, held dual citizenship. The following list reflects the airline's passenger nationality count of the victims. The sole survivor was a 9-year-old Dutch boy, Ruben van Assouw, from Tilburg, who was returning from a safari with his parents and brother (all of whom died in the accident). He was taken to Sabia'a Hospital, south-east of Tripoli and later transferred to Al-Khadhra Hospital, Tripoli, Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Ad Meijer said the child had no life-threatening injuries. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Captain Sabri Shadi, the head of Afriqiyah Airways, visited the boy while he was hospitalised in Libya. The boy was accompanied on the flight by his paternal aunt and uncle, who later gained custody of him. Of the passengers, 42 were to continue to Düsseldorf, 32 to Brussels, 7 to London, and 1 to Paris. Eleven of the passengers had Libya as their final destination. One of the Dutch victims was Joëlle van Noppen, singer in the former Dutch girl group WOW!. South Africa confirmed that at least nine of its citizens were on board Flight 771. Among them was Frans Dreyer, the brother of MP Anchen Dreyer. On the evening of 12 May 2010, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one of its passport holders was on the plane, novelist Bree O'Mara. ==Response==

During the accident, the aircraft damaged a house on the ground. The homeowner, his wife, and their five children escaped unharmed. The house and a nearby mosque were scheduled to be demolished as part of the airport expansion plans. After hearing the news of the crash, the Dutch government quickly established a crisis team. A flight carrying officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and personnel of the Dutch National Forensic Investigation Team would be flown on the next day. The first body of a non-Libyan passenger was repatriated to the Netherlands on 27 May 2010. On 15 June, all of the bodies had been identified and repatriated to their respective countries. Libyan authorities then began clearing the accident site on 21 June. By 15 May 2010 the airline opened the Family Assistance Centre in a hotel in Tripoli to care for family members and relatives of crash victims who were visiting Libya. The executive team of Afriqiyah, including the CEO and the chairperson of the board, met family members at the hotel. Some family members wanted to visit the crash site; they travelled to the site and placed flowers there. The President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, also offered his condolences. Dutch Interior Ministry announced that a website dedicated for the families had been established, stating that the purpose of the website was to provide additional legal and moral support to the relatives. Relatives could receive approximately 20,000 euros in advance as preliminary compensation, which would be provided by Afriqiyah Airlines. On 30 June, a national commemoration was held in Dr. Anton Philips Hall in The Hague. The service was attended by relatives of the victims, government officials and members of the Dutch Royal Family, including Queen Beatrix. Concerts and poem readings were conducted while victims' names were read out one by one. The memorial was televised on live TV. A national minute of silence was also observed during the service. The then-Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, expressed his deepest sympathy to the families, later thanking the Libyan authorities for their good cooperation. Controversy The conduct of the press during the crash was openly criticised by the Dutch government and public due to what they considered blatant disregard of the privacy of the victims. After waking up from his intensive care, Ruben reportedly was phoned by a journalist from the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Ruben was audibly upset at the time of the interview and was still traumatised from the crash. In the Netherlands, the revelation sparked controversy and drew condemnations from government officials. André Rouvoet, caretaker of the Minister for Youth and Family Policy, called De Telegraaf's action "shameless," stating, "How dare you?!" on Twitter. Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, , called the interview "reprehensible," adding that he wanted to discuss with the hospital reports that journalists were able to gain access to Ruben's bed. The newspaper eventually issued an apology to the public, stating that they never intended to abuse Ruben's situation. The same complaint was also made by relatives of other victims regarding the conduct of other press. Mayor of Roermond, Rianne Donders, whose son was killed in the crash, admitted that families of the victims had to meet in secret to prevent the media from following them. Their attempts, however, failed as the press managed to find the place of their meeting. One of the journalists could be seen lying in bushes to get photographs. Libyan media, meanwhile, accused authorities of excessive use of force and assaulting the press. One of the reporters claimed that, during Ruben's departure from Libya, the journalists were assaulted by doctors who were handling Ruben, inflicting injuries to one of them. The group accused the authorities of unequal treatment, claiming that Western press were allowed to take photos, record, and interview Ruben. Following the commotion, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called the media to grant the relatives peace as they were dealing with their grief and loss. He eventually extended his sympathy to Ruben's family and added that the government would do everything to support the families of the victims. On 11 June, Ruben's family was granted a private memorial in Tilburg for the deceased members. The memorial was attended by the mayor of Tilburg, and 1,200 guests. The Netherlands Journalist Council issued a full ruling on the aspects of reporting in regard to the privacy of the relatives of the victims. Procedural changes in reporting and covering the victims of accidents would be published in September 2010. ==Investigation==

The Libyan Civil Aviation Authority (LYCAA) opened an investigation into the accident. Airbus stated that it would provide full technical assistance to the authorities investigating the crash, and would do so via the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA). The South African Civil Aviation Authority sent a team to assist with the investigation. The BEA assisted in the investigation with an initial team of two investigators, accompanied by five advisors from Airbus. The Dutch Safety Board (, literally "Investigation Council for Safety") sent an observer. The flight recorders were recovered and sent to Paris for analysis soon after the incident. During the final approach and up to the moment of the accident the pilot had not reported any problems to the control tower. The weather at the time of the crash was low wind, marginal visibility, and unlimited ceiling.[A] The main runway of the airport (Runway 09/27) is long. Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan ruled out terrorism as a cause. Authorities reviewed the recordings made by the Flight Data Recorder. In August 2010, it was reported that preliminary investigations were complete. There was no evidence of any technical problems nor was there any fuel shortage. No technical or medical problems had been reported by the crew and they had not requested any assistance. The result of the investigation had been planned to be published by the end of 2012. The Libyan government later asked for another 6 months. The Dutch government offered assistance, but it was refused by Libyan authorities, claiming that Libya would be able to finish the report by themselves. Conduct of approach Flight 771 used a non-precision approach to Tripoli, meaning that the pilots would be provided with lateral guidance to the airport but not vertical guidance. To do this approach, pilots would be obliged to rely on ground beacons and other aircraft equipment, including VOR and DME. They would then need to discuss their approach thoroughly in order to reach the airport safely. One of the approach methods would be the "common managed guidance" mode, in which the crew would need to do a continuous descent until they reach the minimum decision altitude before continuing to the runway threshold. The technique was preferred by pilots since the mode took the least workload. In "selected guidance," the crew would conduct a rapid descent, relying on a glideslope until the aircraft reached a certain altitude. Using this mode would require close attention. Apart from the flight crew's avoidance to report the incident to Afriqiyah Airways, the investigation revealed that the analysis system within the airline was lacking. Several procedures, including regular removal of tape recording from aircraft for analysis, were rarely done. The committee stated that the safety policy was not followed properly. Afriqiyah Airways themselves had been audited three times before the crash. The audits failed to find any deficiencies in training, safety, and operation. At the time of the crash of Flight 771, the airline was being audited by IATA, but the result of the audit indicated that, at the time, no deficiency was found. It was likely that the audit had overlooked certain items, and thus these were not able to be detected. The training of both pilots was criticised by investigators. Both pilots' failure to solve the problems in their flight, especially their multiple misunderstandings and mishandling of procedures, indicated that the training for both pilots was insufficient. The evaluation process for each pilot was questioned, as basic skill, such as pulling up the nose following a GPWS warning, was not present when both pilots were faced with the problem. Inadequate training was eventually listed as one of the contributing factors of the crash. Conclusion On 28 February 2013, the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority announced that they had determined that the cause of the crash was pilot error. Crew resource management lacked/was insufficient, sensory illusions, and the first officer's inputs to the aircraft side-stick were a contributing factor in the crash. Fatigue was also named as a possible contributing factor in the accident. The final report stated that the accident resulted from the pilots' lack of a common action plan during the approach, the final approach being continued below the Minimum Decision Altitude without ground visual reference being acquired, the inappropriate application of flight control inputs during the go-around and after the activation of the Terrain Awareness and Warning System, and the flight crew's lack of monitoring and controlling of the flight path. ==Aftermath==

The airline permanently retired the flight number 771 and it has been re-designated to 788 for Tripoli to Johannesburg and 789 for the return flight. A monument was planned to be built to commemorate the victims of the crash. It was planned to be built in the Noorderveld cemetery in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. Design planning was done in 2015, and construction was started in early 2016. On the sixth anniversary of the crash, the monument was unveiled to the public. The monument was a golden globe bearing the date of the disaster on its equator. The floors were decorated with plaques containing the names of each victim. ==In popular culture==

The 2020 novel Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, which tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills all of the other 191 passengers, was inspired in part by the Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crash. ==See also==