On this day in 1992, an El Al cargo plane en route to Tel Aviv lost two engines and crashed into a pair of crowded apartment buildings in a densely populated suburb near Schiphol Airport.
The disaster claimed 250 lives, making it the deadliest air accident in Dutch history. Thick smoke and collapsing structures severely hampered overnight rescue efforts. Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers visited the scene in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Subsequent investigations revealed the aircraft had been carrying 240 kilograms of the toxic nerve agent Sarin. Discrepancies in the cargo manifest raised serious concerns that the flight may have been used to transport chemical weapons, prompting widespread scrutiny and controversy.
The cargo aircraft, a Boeing 747-258F, registered as 4X-AXG, travelling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, made a stopover at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
During the flight from New York to Schiphol, three issues were noted: fluctuations in the autopilot speed regulation, problems with a radio, and fluctuations in the voltage of the electrical generator on engine number three, the inboard engine on the right wing that would later detach from the aircraft and initiate the accident.
The jet landed in Schiphol at 14:40 for cargo loading and crew change.  7  The aircraft was refueled and the observed issues were repaired, at least provisionally. The crew consisted of Captain Yitzhak Fuchs (59), First Officer Arnon Ohad (32), and Flight Engineer Gedalya Sofer (61). A single passenger named Anat Solomon (23) was on board. She was an El Al employee based in Amsterdam, and was travelling to Tel Aviv to marry another El Al employee.
Captain Fuchs was an experienced aviator, having flown as a fighter-bomber pilot in the Israeli Air Force in the late 1950s. He had over 25,000 flight hours, including 9,500 hours on the Boeing 747. 
First Officer Ohad had less experience than the other two crew members, having logged 4,288 flight hours, 612 of them on the Boeing 747.  Flight Engineer Sofer was the most experienced crew member on the flight, with more than 26,000 hours of flight experience, of which 15,000 were on the Boeing 747.
Captain Yitzhak Fuchs had flown for El Al for 28 years (since 1964) and had previously served in the Israeli Air Force for 10 years. First Officer Arnon Ohad had flown for El Al for 10 years (since 1982), Flight Engineer Gedalya Sofer for 37 years (since 1955).
