2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident
Damage to the left wing after being struck by a surface-to-air missile | |
| Attempted shootdown | |
|---|---|
| Date | 22 November 2003 |
| Summary | Missile attack leading to loss of hydraulics |
| Site |
|
| Aircraft | |
| OO-DLL, the aircraft involved, seen 2 days before the attempted shootdown | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A300B4-203F |
| Operator | European Air Transport |
| Call sign | OSCAR OSCAR DELTA LIMA LIMA |
| Registration | OO-DLL |
| Flight origin | Baghdad International Airport Baghdad, Iraq (Coalition Provisional Authority) |
| Destination | Bahrain International Airport Muharraq, Bahrain |
| Occupants | 3 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 3 |
On 22 November 2003, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad, Iraq, an Airbus A300B4-203F cargo plane, registered OO-DLL and owned by the Belgian division of European Air Transport (doing business as DHL Aviation), was struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile while on a scheduled flight to Muharraq, Bahrain. Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems.
Returning to Baghdad, the three-man crew made an injury-free landing of the seriously damaged A300, using differential engine thrust as the only pilot input. This was despite major damage to a wing, total loss of hydraulic control, a faster-than-safe landing speed, and a ground path that veered off the runway surface and onto unprepared ground.
Paris Match reporter Claudine Vernier-Palliez accompanied a disbanded Fedayeen unit on their strike mission against the EAT aircraft.
Sara Daniel, a French weekly newsmagazine journalist, claimed receipt, from an unknown source, of a video that showed Iraqi insurgents (belonging to IAI), faces concealed, firing a missile at the EAT A300. Daniel was researching a feature about Iraqi resistance groups, but she denied any specific knowledge of the people who carried out the attack, despite being present at the moment of attack.