| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 7 April 1999 |
| Type | Poor weather conditions, Pilot error |
| Site | Village of Hamdilli in Ceyhan district of Adana Province |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Fatalities | 6 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-4Q8 |
| Aircraft name | Trakya |
| Operator | Turkish Airlines |
| Tail number | TC-JEP |
| Flight origin | Adana Şakirpaşa Airport, Adana, Turkey |
| Destination | King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 was a Boeing 737-4Q8 operated by the Turkish Airlines, registered TC-JEP and named Trakya, on a repositioning flight that crashed on 7 April 1999 in Ceyhan, Adana Province in southern Turkey. There were no passengers on board, all the 6 crew members died in the accident.
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TK5904 with two pilots and four flight attendants took off empty at 00:36 EET from Adana Şakirpaşa Airport (IATA: ADA, ICAO: LTAF) to pick up pilgrims at King Abdulaziz International Airport (IATA: JED, ICAO: OEJN) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft crashed at 00:44 EET (22:44 UTC on April 6), 8 minutes after taking off, about 30 nautical miles (56 km) east-northeast of the airport near Hamdilli village of Ceyhan district in poor weather conditions.[1][2] The crash created a 10 m (33 ft) deep hole at the point of impact and the wreckage was scattered over an area of around 42 m2 (450 sq ft).[2]
The previous flight had brought 150 pilgrims returning from Hajj back to Adana, where it landed at 23:57 EET.[1] The pilots reported no maintenance problems and everything being normal after landing.
As revealed by the cockpit voice recorder, the pilot asked at 23:22:43 local time (21:22:43 UTC on April 6) for weather information from air traffic control (ATC) at Incirlik Air Base about the direction and speed of the thunderstorm he noticed on his radar. The ATC reported that the thunderstorm was moving away northwards, and the weather at 20 nmi (37 km) far north at the west of the airport was clear.[3]
The crash investigation carried out by the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority concluded that:
- The severe weather conditions probably contributed to the cause of the accident.
- The pitot static anti-ice system was probably not activated during preparations for flight because of missed checklist items.
- The crew failed to recognize the cause of erratic airspeed indication.
- The crew failed to use other cockpit indications for control and recovery of the airplane.
- The presence of cabin crew in the cockpit probably distracted the attention of the cockpit crew.[3][4]
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-4Q8 with two CFMI CFM56-3C1 jet engines, was built by Boeing with manufacturer serial number 25378/2732, and made its first flight on 9 June 1995.[2]
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