What happened
On the night of the accident, a Boeing 707-338C operated by Uganda Airlines departed London-Gatwick Airport for destinations in Rome and Entebbe. While approaching Rome-Fiumicino Airport, the flight crew initially attempted an ILS approach to runway 16L, but visibility conditions were poor, leading to a missed approach at 0005.
A second attempt was made toward runway 25, which was also abandoned due to low visibility. Following deteriorating RVR values, the crew requested radar vectors for runway 34L. By 0028, the aircraft was established on the localizer for this runway. During the descent, the aircraft continued below the minimum descent altitude of 420 feet without the crew having identified the runway visual markings.
As the plane descended, the GPWS activated unexpectedly because the flight crew had not performed necessary altitude callouts. The right wing of the aircraft struck the roof of a car rental building approximately 1,300 meters before the runway threshold. The impact caused the aircraft to crash 500 meters further along, where it caught fire. The accident resulted in 33 fatalities, including all seven crew members, and 19 injuries among the passengers.
Findings
The investigation concluded that the primary cause was the crew's insufficient preparation for a non-precision approach to runway 34L, specifically regarding poor coordination and the failure to monitor altitude via callouts while descending below the MDA.
Several contributing factors were identified:
- The flight crew likely suffered from physical and mental fatigue following two previous demanding approaches in adverse weather.
- The aircraft's instrumentation was limited to a single radio altimeter, which lacked an acoustic warning for crossing the MDA.
- The crew focused excessively on runway lights rather than maintaining proper monitoring of their instruments.