Crashes of Gulf Air Boeing 737 GF771 & US Navy UH-3H Sea King Angel 740

Gulf Air GF 771, a Boeing 737, was flying from Karachi to Abu Dhabi on the night of Friday, 23 September 1983 when it was blown up and crashed near Jebel Ali, UAE with the loss of 112 people.
Angel 740, a US Navy UH-3H Sea King, crashed near the USS La Salle in the Arabian Gulf on the evening of Thursday 3 July 1987.
In this video I describe my recollections of these two events when I was on duty as an air traffic controller at the Bahrain Air Traffic Control Centre.

[@marcedwards8581]

Hi Peter, my father was a B737 captain with GA at the time, Rex Edwards. You may have known him. I remember the in incident at the time. However, if there was a bomb onboard, what was the motivation? We’re there any high profile pax on the flight?

[@petercromarty]

Hello Marc, I don't know anything about the motivation or whether there was a high-profile passenger. I do remember your Dad - well known at the time among the controllers - for always flying as fast as possible. I was once setting up a sequence of arrivals, I said to your dad, "Keep your speed up, you'll be number one." That was all the invitation he needed. Shortly afterwards another voice from a Gulf Air pilot said, "Is it shaking yet, Rex?" An allusion to mach buffet, I think.

[@marcedwards8581]

@@petercromarty yes, he did have a reputation for arriving at dinner parties in Bahrain well before even the scheduled ETA of his flight into Muharraq. I am now retired in the US and recently sold my Piper M600, but kept a twin C-340A that I still fly. Rex’s granddaughter Gemma solo’d on her 16th birthday and has his need for speed in her genes. All the best!