Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 25 August 2010 |
Summary | Dangerous animal entering cabin during final approach, leading to sudden center of gravity shift and loss of control |
Site | Near Bandundu Airport, Bandundu, Democratic Republic of the Congo 3°18′40″S17°22′24″E / 3.31111°S 17.37333°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Let L-410UVP-E20C |
Operator | Filair |
Registration | 9Q-CCN |
Flight origin | N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
1st stopover | Basango Mboliasa Airport, Kiri, DRC |
2nd stopover | Bokoro Airport, Bokoro, DRC |
3rd stopover | Semendua Airport Semendwa, DRC |
4th stopover | Bandundu Airport, Bandundu, DRC |
Destination | N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa, DRC |
Occupants | 21 |
Passengers | 18 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 20 |
Injuries | 1 |
Survivors | 1 |
On 25 August 2010, a Let L-410 Turbolet passenger aircraft of Filair crashed on approach to Bandundu Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all but one of the 21 people on board. [1]
The accident was reportedly the result of the occupants rushing to the front of the aircraft to escape from a crocodile smuggled on board by one of the passengers. The move compromised the aircraft's balance to the point that control of the aircraft was lost. [2]
The aircraft was operating a round-robin domestic flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, stopping at Kiri, Bokoro, Semendwa and Bandundu. At 13:00 local time (12:00 UTC), while on final approach to Bandundu Airport, the aircraft crashed into a house approximately 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) short of the runway. According to most sources, no one was injured on the ground. 19 people were killed instantaneously, with two survivors being taken to hospital, one of whom later died from their injuries. [3] Of the 21 people on board, only one, a passenger, survived. [4] [5] Most of the dead were Congolese. [6] There was no post-impact fire, a circumstance that led to initial speculation that the aircraft may have suffered fuel exhaustion. [7]
The aircraft was a 1991-built Let L-410 Turbolet, with Congolese registration 9Q-CCN, construction number 912608. [8] It normally carries up to 19 passengers. [6] The aircraft involved was previously registered ES-LLB, and was operated by Airest, an Estonian airline, until 2007. It was stored until Filair bought it in 2009. [9]
The Congolese Ministry of Transport opened an investigation into the accident. [4] There was no confirmation that fuel shortage caused the crash. [6]
The only survivor of the crash stated to the investigators that a crocodile smuggled in a duffel bag by one of the passengers had escaped shortly before landing, sparking panic among the passengers. The flight attendant rushed towards the cockpit, followed by all passengers, and the resulting shift in the aircraft's centre of gravity led to an irrecoverable loss of control. [2] The crocodile reportedly survived the crash, but was killed by a blow from a machete. [10]
The Antonov An-28 is a twin-engined light turboprop transport aircraft, developed from the Antonov An-14M. It was the winner of a competition against the Beriev Be-30, for use by Aeroflot as a short-range airliner. It first flew in 1969. A total of 191 were built and 16 remain in airline service as at August 2015. After a short pre-production series built by Antonov, it was licence-built in Poland by PZL-Mielec. In 1993, PZL-Mielec developed its own improved variant, the PZL M28 Skytruck.
N'djili Airport, also known as N'Djili International Airport and Kinshasa International Airport, serves the city of Kinshasa and is the largest of the four international airports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), It is named after the nearby Ndjili River.
Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation, renamed FlyCAA in 2013, is a regional airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, based at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. It offers an extensive network of domestic scheduled passenger flights, as well as cargo flights. Due to safety and security concerns, CAA has been included in the list of air carriers banned in the European Union.
Goma International Airport is an airport serving Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa.
Bandundu Airport is an inactive airport, which used to serve Bandundu, capital of the Kwilu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The 2007 Africa One Antonov An-26 crash occurred when a twin engine Antonov An-26, belonging to the Congolese air carrier Africa One, crashed and burned shortly after takeoff from N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo on 4 October 2007. The flight left N'djili at 10:43 local time bound for Tshikapa, a distance of 650 kilometres to the east.
On June 21, 2007, an overloaded Free Airlines Let L-410UVP in Karibu Airways livery crashed shortly after takeoff from Kamina Town for Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Landing in a swamp east of the unpaved strip, the aircraft came to rest inverted in the water.
The Great Lakes Business Company is an airline owner/operator in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Karibu Airways was an airline in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Agefreco Air was an air carrier operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1988 to 2007.
On 15 April 2008, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 plane crashed into a residential and market area of Goma of the Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately south of Goma International Airport.
Filair was an airline based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It operated from N'Dolo Airport in Kinshasa. The airline was on the list of air carriers banned in the European Union, as well as all airlines regulated by the authorities in the DRC.
Kavumu Airport is an airport serving Bukavu, the capital city of the Sud-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The airport is 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Bukavu.
The 1998 Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 crash was a non-scheduled domestic Kindu–Kinshasa passenger service that was shot down by rebel forces, just after takeoff from Kindu Airport, during climbout, on 10 October 1998. All 41 occupants of the aircraft perished in the incident.
On 4 April 2011, Georgian Airways Flight 834, a Bombardier CRJ100 passenger jet of Georgian Airways operating a domestic flight from Kisangani to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) crashed while attempting to land at Kinshasa Airport. The aircraft, which was chartered by the United Nations, was trying to land during a thunderstorm. Of the 33 people on board, only one person survived. The incident remains as the United Nations' deadliest aviation disaster. It is also the third-deadliest air disaster involving the CRJ100/200, behind Comair Flight 5191 and China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210.
On 8 July 2011, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952, a Boeing 727 passenger jet on a domestic flight from Kinshasa, to Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), crashed on final approach at Kisangani, killing 74 of the 118 people on board.
On 13 July 2011, Noar Linhas Aéreas Flight 4896, a Let L-410 Turbolet passenger aircraft on a domestic service from Recife to Mossoró, Brazil, crashed shortly after take-off in the Boa Viagem neighbourhood of Recife, after suffering an engine failure. All 16 people on board were killed.
On 4 March 2013, a Fokker 50 operated by Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation on a domestic cargo flight from Lodja to Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, crashed in poor weather on approach to Goma Airport. There were nine people on board, of which six were killed. No fatalities were reported on the ground, despite the aircraft crashing into a populated area.
Siberian Light Aviation Flight 51 was a passenger flight on September 12, 2021, by a Let L-410 Turbolet plane, from Irkutsk north to Kazatjinskoje, Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, near Lake Baikal. The plane crashed about 4 kilometers from the airport.