Tamanrasset Airport
Encyclopedia
Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport , also known as Aguenar Airport or Tamanrasset Airport, is an airport
serving Tamanrasset, a city in the Tamanrasset Province
of southern Algeria
. It is located 3.6 NM northwest of the city.
The airport is currently an alternative landing site for NASA
's Space Shuttle
.
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
serving Tamanrasset, a city in the Tamanrasset Province
Tamanrasset Province
Tamanrasset or Tamanghasset is the largest province in Algeria. It was named after its province seat: Tamanrasset. The Province has two national parks, more than any other in Algeria. They are: Tassili n'Ajjer National Park and Ahaggar National Park...
of southern Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. It is located 3.6 NM northwest of the city.
The airport is currently an alternative landing site for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
.
Airlines and destinations
Incidents and accidents
- On 8 February 1978, Douglas C-49J N189UM of Aero Service Corporation was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident at Tamanrasset.
- On March 6, 2003 Air Algérie Flight 6289Air Algérie Flight 6289Air Algérie Flight 6289, a Boeing 737-200, was a scheduled passenger service of Air Algérie between Tamanrasset, Algeria and Algiers, via Ghardaia. On 6 March 2003 at 3:45 p.m. local time , the flight attempted departure from the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset. The aircraft veered off the...
crashed at 3:45 p.m. local time (1445 GMT). The flight was leaving Tamanrasset bound for AlgiersAlgiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
with the co-pilot acting as pilot-in-command. At a height of 78 feet and a speed of 158 kts, the No. 1 engine suffered a turbine failure. The captain took control. The co-pilot asked if she should raise the gear, but the captain did not respond. The Boeing 737-200 lost speed, stalled, and broke up on rocky terrain about 1600 metres past the runway. The accident was caused by the loss of an engine during a critical phase of flight, the non-retraction of the landingLandingthumb|A [[Mute Swan]] alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the [[Stall |stall]]ing speed...
gear after the engine failure, and the Captain taking over control of the airplane before having clearly identified the problem. There were 102 fatalities and one survivor.