[1][3] At the time, this was the second-deadliest aircraft accident in the history of aviation involving a single airplane after Turkish Airlines Flight 981 and the third-deadliest overall.

[4] The aircraft involved in the accident was a Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar, registered in Saudi Arabia as HZ-AHK with serial number 1169.

Captain Khowyter decided to return to the airport, and First Officer Hasanain radioed their intentions at 21:20 (18:20 UTC).

On arrival at the aircraft soon after, however, the rescue personnel found that the two wing-mounted engines were still running, preventing them from opening the doors.

These were finally shut down at 21:42 (18:42 UTC), 3 minutes and 15 seconds after the aircraft came to a stop, when communication with the crew was lost.

[10] It is assumed that most passengers and flight attendants were incapacitated during the landing roll, or they did not attempt to open a door on a moving aircraft.

Lockheed also removed the insulation from above the rear cargo area and added glass laminate structural reinforcement.

This is evident from the primary lapses in effective communication that prevented the crew from carrying out a final successful evacuation from the aircraft.

These lapses are enabled in part by so-called power distances between juniors and superiors in workplace settings, relationships found in all societies, but emphasized more in some than in others.

[14][13][15] Analysis of the CVR found that a power distance may have taken place, as the captain repeatedly ignored requests from the flight's chief purser to order an evacuation.

As the aircraft's CVR stopped recording before the emergency landing due to fire damage, the exact reason for the captain refusing to order an evacuation is unknown, though his behavior and actions during the flight were found to be contributing factors to the accident.

[14] In 1982, the British current-affairs program World in Action aired an episode entitled "The Mystery of Flight 163".