Thirty-three people died when a Uganda Airlines Boeing 707 crashed in dense fog while attempting to land at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on October 17, 1988, with 19 people surviving the disaster.
Uganda Airlines Flight 775 crashed while attempting to land at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport in the early hours of October 17, 1988, killing 33 people, including all seven crew members, in one of the deadliest aviation disasters involving Uganda’s national carrier.
The Boeing 707-338C, registration 5X-UBC, was operating an international passenger service from London Gatwick Airport to Entebbe International Airport, with a scheduled stopover in Rome. There were 52 people aboard, comprising 45 passengers and seven crew members.
Nineteen people survived the crash.
The aircraft encountered dense fog while approaching Rome shortly after midnight. After abandoning two landing attempts because of poor visibility, the crew prepared for a third approach to Runway 34L.
At approximately 00:30 local time, the aircraft descended below the minimum safe altitude without the pilots establishing visual contact with the runway. It struck trees and buildings about 800 metres short of the runway before breaking apart across a nearby road and parking area and bursting into flames.
Investigators identified deficiencies in crew preparation and coordination during the non-precision instrument approach as the primary cause. Fatigue following the two abandoned landing attempts, the crew’s focus on ground lights through the fog and problems with the minimum-altitude warning system were among the contributing factors examined.
The aircraft belonged to the original state-owned Uganda Airlines, established in the late 1970s. That airline ceased operations in 2001, nearly 13 years after the Rome disaster. Uganda later revived its national carrier as a separate entity, with the current Uganda Airlines beginning operations in 2019.