K2 Airways Boeing 737-4M0F plane crash
off Karachi, Pakistan
Updated on
The Boeing 737-400 freighter operated by K2 Cargo Airways took off from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, for a cargo flight to Karachi, Pakistan, with 5 crew members: two pilots, two engineers and one support staff member. It crashed into the Arabian Sea. The 5 occupants have been killed.
The Boeing 737-4M0 departed Sharjah. The flight was reportedly positioning the aircraft back to Pakistan following maintenance work performed in Sharjah. While cruising over the Arabian Sea approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi, the crew reported a problem with the aircraft’s navigation systems. Karachi Area Control Centre provided radar headings to assist the pilots. Approximately three minutes later, the aircraft initially descended by approximately 5,000 feet in less than one minute. It then climbed by about 6,000 feet in roughly 30 seconds before entering a second and much steeper descent from an altitude of approximately 36,550 feet. Then Communication and radar contact were lost.
The final ADS-B data point placed the aircraft at approximately 1,100 feet above mean sea level, with a reported vertical speed of about 22,400 feet per minute downward. Such an extreme value indicates an uncontrolled steep descent.
Wreckage located off the coast of Pakistan
Following a search involving the Pakistan Navy, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, military aircraft and merchant vessels, floating wreckage was located on 8 July, approximately 53 nautical miles south of the port of Ormara. Recovered debris confirmed that the aircraft had been destroyed.
The search area presents major technical difficulties. Water depths in the region range from approximately 2,500 to more than 3,500 metres.
Recent maintenance and replacement of an inertial reference unit
The aircraft had reportedly remained in Sharjah for approximately ten days before the accident while maintenance personnel waited for a replacement component from the United States.
An inertial reference system fault had been detected after the aircraft arrived in Sharjah on 28 June and that repairs had been completed before it was released to service.
An inertial reference unit uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to calculate information including the aircraft’s attitude, heading, position and movement. This information is supplied to cockpit instruments and several navigation and automatic-flight systems.
A malfunction does not necessarily result in a loss of control. However, depending on the nature of the failure, erroneous inertial data can affect cockpit indications and autopilot behaviour.
The aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident, a Boeing 737-4M0, was originally manufactured as a passenger aircraft in 1999. It initially operated with Aeroflot before joining Garuda Indonesia in 2004.
The aircraft was converted into a freighter in 2012 and subsequently operated for TNT Airways and ASL Airlines. It entered service with K2 Airways in 2024 and was the Pakistani cargo carrier’s only aircraft at the time of the accident. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 46,658 flight hours and 27,678 cycles.