The wreckage of the Boeing 707 cargo plane that crashed near the Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club in October 2009.
The wreckage of the Boeing 707 cargo plane that crashed near the Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club in October 2009.

Plane crash families holding out for answers



DUBAI // The families of the Azza Air transport crew who died in Sharjah two years ago today are still waiting for the final findings of the crash investigation - and some closure.

The Boeing 707-320C cargo freighter crashed shortly after take-off from Sharjah International Airport in 2009, killing the six crewmen. The four-engined plane plunged into a deserted stretch of land near Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club, narrowly missing several roads.

"We would like to know what has happened but until now we have not been told anything," said Ahmed Mohammed Ali, the son of the pilot, Capt Mohammed Ali.

"We believe that the report should be sent to the families and published in the press by the concerned aviation authorities. However, we have not been provided with any details and have been going back and forth between different departments since the crash."

The investigation by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority, with assistance from the US National Transportation Safety Board, has focused on the cargo plane's four turbofan engines, which were at least 24 years old.

An interim report released by the GCAA last January showed no evidence of an in-flight fire and said the aircraft exploded and burned because of the fuel on board. The accident was ruled non-survivable.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, the director general of the GCAA, said the wreckage was sent to Miami in the US to be examined. The investigation there focused on one engine.

"Engine number four was examined … in the presence of the GCAA and NTSB investigators," Mr Al Suwaidi said. "The engine teardown showed explicit rubbing marks as an indication of engine rotation prior to the impact."

The engine is suspected to have either failed with a loss of thrust, or been switched into "thrust reversal" mode while at high power, which allows little time for a pilot to react, the interim report said.

No Boeing 707 flights have entered the country since the accident, Mr Al Suwaidi said. And 11 operators with 48 aircraft have been banned from UAE skies over safety concerns.

Aircraft from five countries have been banned and operators from two other nations require approval before entering UAE airspace, he said.

"The accident and other incidents and accidents of foreign aircraft raised the need for making new regulations concerning foreign operators," Mr Al Suwaidi said.

The families of the crew have not all received compensation in the time since the accident, Mr Ali said.

"Two or three families are still awaiting the insurance payouts," he said.

Mr Ali said the crewmen were hired from several companies that either did not insure them or were finalising payments.

Capt Ali's family has been compensated, but Mr Ali said he was still waiting for answers.

"For the first seven months we were in shock and disillusioned, but afterwards we went to find out the reasons but no one has given us any yet," he said.

"I have always been trying to reconstruct what has happened to understand it.

"This has been a very turbulent mental and emotional ride. Whenever I board a plane I am reminded of what has happened, and that is very hard."

The crash has also affected Azza Air Transport, the company that owned the plane.

Capt Aidarous Al Tayeb, the carrier's director of flight operations, said the ban on its operations in the UAE had hurt its bottom line.

"We flew regularly from Dubai and Sharjah to Khartoum and Nyala in Sudan and to Kano in Nigeria," Capt Al Tayeb said. "Although the economic crisis has affected the trade, this was a lucrative and profitable route for us."

He was also pessimistic about how long the investigation would take.

"Such an investigation has to be clear and concise, and I believe it may take up to five years before it's complete," Capt Al Tayeb said.

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About Takalam

Date started: early 2020

Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: HealthTech and wellness

Number of staff: 4

Funding to date: Bootstrapped

Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

MATCH INFO

Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)

Man of the match Harry Kane

Naga
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The National in Davos

We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.

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Moonfall

Director: Rolan Emmerich

Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry

Rating: 3/5

What can you do?

Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

Seek professional advice from a legal expert

You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor

You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline

In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Company%20profile
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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now

Dolittle

Director: Stephen Gaghan

Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen

One-and-a-half out of five stars

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

SPECS
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