At 09:05 GMT the aircraft took off from Rome on a flight to Basra, part of a chartered flight from London to Karachi. Shortly before the aircraft arrived at Basra the visibility, which had been very good during the day, deteriorated, falling below the minima laid down by the operator for landings at that aerodrome. It was reported at the same time that the visibility at Baghdad, the alternate, had dropped below the minima for that aerodrome also and the captain decided to divert to Dhahran. However, the aircraft ran out of fuel before that airport could be reached, and, at 22:22 GMT, the pilot was compelled to make a forced landing in the desert approximately 17 miles from the airport. A full moon provided good visibility and the emergency wheels up landing was successful. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The unanimous findings of the Board of Inquiry were as follows: 1) The Company in training pilots-in-command and flight engineers, should make such personnel more fully acquainted with the possible misleading effects of instruments and should ensure that they realize that the error involved can be such as to have a bearing on the safety of operations. 2) More reliable fuel level gauges should be developed, particularly as regards the readings given when the fuel in the tanks is very low. The pilot-in- command was compelled to extend the flight to a more remote aerodrome, at a greater distance than the aerodrome of destination or the designated alternate. Towards the end of this long flight, he over-estimated the amount of fuel still available. During the last part of the flight, owing to this inaccurate judgement, he took a series of unwise decisions which resulted either in unnecessary consumption of fuel or failure to avail himself of possibilities of making a landing. It is noted that the pilot-in-command was reprimanded by the management of the Company for his lack of caution and, in addition, was allowed to fly only in the capacity of second pilot for some time after the accident.” Taking all the foregoing into consideration, the Board approved the action. of the Company in reprimanding the pilot-in-command in view of the serious failings on his part which are described above.