page_title: Gulf Air Flight 072
section_title: Accident
hierarchical_section_title: Gulf Air Flight 072 / Accident
caption_attribution_description: English: Sailors from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) leave the ship in a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat on Aug. 24, 2000, to assist in the recovery of Gulf Air Flight 072, which crashed into the Persian Gulf off the northern coast of Bahrain yesterday. The George Washington, home ported in Norfolk, Va., is in Bahrain on a routine port visit to the gulf island nation. The George Washington Battle Group is deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch, which is the U.S. and coalition enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Southern Iraq.
context_page_description: Gulf Air Flight 072 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Cairo International Airport in Egypt to Bahrain International Airport in Bahrain, operated by Gulf Air. On 23 August 2000 at 19:30 Arabia Standard Time, the Airbus A320 crashed minutes after executing a go-around upon failed attempt to land on Runway 12. The flight crew suffered from spatial disorientation during the go-around and crashed into the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf 5 km from the airport. All 143 people on board the aircraft were killed.
  The crash of Flight 072 remains the deadliest aviation accident in Bahraini territory, and was the deadliest accident involving an Airbus A320 at the time, which was later surpassed by TAM Airlines Flight 3054, which crashed on 17 July 2007 with 199 fatalities.
  The final report was issued on 15 August 2002, concluded that the individual factors contributed to the accident was non adherence to a number of Standard Operating Procedures and loss of spatial and situational awareness by the aircraft crew during the approach and final phases of the flight.
context_section_description: Flight 072 departed from Cairo at 16:52 local time with 143 passengers and crew on board. The aircraft approached the landing at higher speeds than normal, initially at 313 knots (580 km/h; 360 mph) and then decreasing to 272 knots (504 km/h; 313 mph). At 19:22 Dammam approach gave the flight approval for self navigation to land on runway 02. First officer Al Alawi then contacted Bahrain approach, informing that they would be landing on runway 02. The approach was too high and the flight crew carried out an unusual low altitude orbit in an attempt to correct the approach. The orbit was unsuccessful and a go-around was attempted. While carrying out a turning climb, the aircraft entered a descent at 15 degrees nose down. The ground proximity warning system (GPWS) activated, first sounding a "sink rate" alarm and then nine "whoop whoop pull up" alarms, which continued to sound until impact. The aircrew did not respond to repeated GPWS warnings and approximately one minute after starting the go-around the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. At 19:30:02, the aircraft crashed into the sea. There were no survivors.
caption: Group of U.S Navy assisting the salvage operations of Gulf Air Flight 072
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