Sudan Airways

Following an uneventful flight from Khartoum, the crew started the descent to Malakal, completed the checklist and lowered the landing gear. A technical problem occurred with the left main gear that remained stuck in its wheel well and failed to deploy. The crew decided to return to Khartoum. On approach to Khartoum-Haj Yusuf Airport runway 18, the crew elected to lower the gear manually but without success. The aircraft landed with both nose and right main gear deployed. After touchdown, the left wing contacted the runway surface. The aircraft slid for about 1,350 metres then veered to the left and came to rest. All 45 occupants evacuated safely and the aircraft was later considered as damaged beyond repair.

The Airbus 310 serial number 548 owned by Sudan Airways Was entered in Sudan Civil Register on 15/09/2007 , designated registration marks ST-ATN in accordance to registration certificate No. 0493 dated 15/09/2007 and issued with Certificate of airworthiness No AWP/COA/0203/2007 dated 19/09/2007. On the morning of 10th June at 8:30 hrs (local time 05:30 UTC) after arriving from Cairo with a deactivated no 1 engine reverse as being a carry forward defect and being labeled according to MEL, the captain accepted the aircraft to carry out its scheduled flight to Amman via Damascus. The trip en-route to Amman was uneventful. Same day in the afternoon, the Airbus A310, ST-ATN, was en-route flying from Damascus (Syria) to Khartoum (Sudan) with 203 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The Airbus approached Khartoum in the afternoon and due to bad weather conditions, the captain decided to divert to Port Sudan. The aircraft landed Port Sudan Airport normally and was refuelled with 20 tons of Jet A1. As mentioned by the Captain that he was in contact with Khartoum enquiring about the weather. After staying on ground at Port Sudan for about 1:15 hour, and being informed that the weather was getting better, the Captain decided to return back to Khartoum. A310, ST-ATN, took off to Khartoum where the captain initiated a night approach for the runway 36 as pilot flying. He got the clearance to land after the controller provided him with wind information (320° / 7 Kt) and runway condition (wet). The left engine thrust reverser was unserviceable and inhibited as per Minimum Equipment List (MEL) procedures. The aircraft landed smoothly about 17:26 UTC. R/W 36 landing and within 900 meters range from the threshold of R/W 36 as stated by the flying pilot. The captain reported that he experienced some difficulties in maintaining the aircraft on the centre line just after setting both thrust levers in the reverse position. Then he did not succeed in slowing down the aircraft nor could stop it before the end of the runway. The aircraft longitudinally overran the runway and came to a stop 215 meters after the runway end. Then it caught fire on its right side. The right hand slides could not be deployed, the crew and the passengers evacuated the aircraft from the left front slide, twenty nine passengers and one cabin crew were fatally injured.

Upon landing, the nose gear collapsed. The aircraft went out of control and veered off runway. While contacting soft ground, the left main gear collapsed as well, causing the left propeller to struck the ground. A propeller blade separated and penetrated the fuselage, and the aircraft came to rest on its belly. All occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft departed Port Sudan Airport at 0407LT on a schedule service to Khartoum with 105 passengers and 11 crew members on board. During climbout, the crew informed ATC about technical problems and was cleared to return for an emergency landing on runway 33. On final approach in limited visibility, the aircraft struck the ground and crashed about 5 km from the runway threshold. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces. A boy aged two was injured while 116 other occupants were killed, among them eight EU citizens and one high ranking officer of the Sudan Army.

The crew was completing a local training flight at Khartoum-Haj Yusuf Airport. Following several touch-and-goes completed successfully on runway 18, the crew landed the airplane and elected to takeoff when the captain encountered difficulties to raise the flaps from 40° to 16,5°. In such conditions, he decided to reject the takeoff procedure and initiated an emergency braking manoeuvre. The aircraft skidded on runway, overran and lost its right main gear before coming to rest against the ILS antenna for runway 36. Both pilots escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.