Departure and Initial Approach
Royal Jordanian Flight 600, operating an aircraft named 'The City of Petra,' departed Amman at 21:55 for a flight to Doha and Muscat. The first officer was the handling pilot. At 23:08, contact was established with Doha at a range of 45 miles. Weather information received included wind 090° at 17 knots, visibility 10 km in thunderstorms, cloud cover of 1/8 at 2500 feet and 3/8 at 3000 feet, and QNH 1008. The controller noted that a thunderstorm appeared to be building over and to the northwest of the airfield. The pilot requested runway 16 and was cleared for a visual approach or an NDB/VOR approach if visual contact was not established.
Missed Approach and Diversion
The aircraft reported overhead for an NDB/VOR procedure at 23:17. Rain was falling heavily at the airfield. The NDB tripped, presumably due to a lightning strike, but was restored at 23:22. At 23:25, the aircraft completed the procedure turn and was cleared to land. At 23:29, the aircraft reported not seeing the runway and initiated a missed approach. It requested and received clearance for an ILS approach to runway 34. At 23:30, wind was reported as 290°/14 knots in heavy rain. At 23:35, the aircraft reported completing the procedure turn and that the field was in sight. Landing clearance was given with wind 180°/06 knots. During the final approach, the controller reported winds of 150° at 13 knots, 150° at 15 knots, and 140° at 17 knots.
Final Missed Approach and Crash
Due to an increasing tailwind component and difficulties maintaining the glide slope, the crew decided before reaching decision height to execute a missed approach, which began at 23:37:19 at about 300 feet above ground level. The pilot requested clearance to Dhahran and was cleared to climb straight ahead to flight level 80. Go-around power was applied, flaps set to 25°, and the undercarriage raised. The aircraft climbed to 750 feet, but indicated airspeed fell to approximately 140 knots. Subsequently, the aircraft began to descend at an increasing rate until it struck the ground with a vertical speed of 4200 feet per minute and indicated airspeed increasing rapidly to about 170 knots in the last five seconds.
The aircraft struck the left edge of the runway 2050 meters from the threshold, with the nose approximately 10° above the horizon and the left wing 5° down. It bounced, turned left, rolled to the right to an inverted position, and slid tail-first into the Fire Station garage, approximately 800 meters from the first impact point and 270 meters from the runway edge. The fuselage broke into three main sections. Four crew members and 41 passengers were killed; 19 other occupants were injured.