Sharm el Sheikh Night Takeoff Accident: Aircraft Disintegrated After Uncontrolled Bank (SU-ZCF)

Incident Overview and Sequence of Events On the night of the accident, the aircraft took off from runway 22R at Sharm el Sheikh-Ophira Airport. After climbing, the aircraft maneuvered for a procedural left turn to intercept the 306 radial from the Sharm el Sheikh VOR station. When the autopilot was engaged, the captain made an exclamation, and the autopilot was immediately switched off. The captain then requested Heading Select to be engaged, after which the aircraft began to bank to the right. The copilot warned the captain multiple times as the bank angle increased. At a 40° right bank, the captain stated, “OK come out.” The ailerons briefly returned to neutral before additional aileron movements increased the right bank. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 5,460 feet with a 50° bank, after which the copilot called “overbank” repeatedly as the bank continued to increase. The maximum recorded bank angle was 111° right, with a pitch attitude of 43° nose down and an altitude of 3,470 feet. A trainee copilot observer on the flight deck called “retard power, retard power, retard power.” Both throttles were moved to idle, and the aircraft appeared to recover gently from the nose-down, right-bank attitude. However, speed increased, triggering an overspeed warning. At 04:45, the aircraft struck the water surface in a 24° right bank and 24° nose-down attitude at a speed of 416 knots and a 3.9 G load. The aircraft disintegrated on impact, and debris sank to a depth of 900 metres. All 148 occupants were killed, including 133 French citizens, one Moroccan, one Japanese, and 13 Egyptian crew members, six of whom were scheduled to disembark at Cairo. Weather conditions were good, with excellent visibility, an outside temperature of 17°C, and light wind. On January 17, the FDR was found at a depth of 1,020 metres, and the CVR was found the following day at a depth of 1,050 metres.