Accidents
Senior Libyan Officials Among Falcon 50 Crash Fatalities
Harmony Jets’ aircraft experienced an apparent technical malfunction leaving Turkey
Harmony Jets Dassault Falcon 50 on apron
9H-DFS joined Harmony Jets’ all-Falcon fleet in November 2017 © Harmony Jets

A Maltese-registered Dassault Falcon 50 has crashed en route from Turkey to Libya, killing all eight onboard, including the chief of staff of the Libyan Armed Forces. An international investigation is now underway to determine the cause of the crash.

General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Hallad was among the senior military delegation returning to Tripoli after meetings with their Turkish counterparts. However, after taking off from Ankara Esenboga on the evening of December 23, the flight crew requested an emergency landing some 20 minutes into the journey. Flight tracking data indicates the jet descended rapidly before squawking the emergency code 7700 just seconds later. Communication could not be reestablished.