Sudan

The Antonov 2 aircraft was assigned to spray birds at the white Nile Scheme. The aircraft arrived at Um-galala airstrip 5 days before the accident date and carried out seven spraying flight in the previous five days. The spraying of birds start daily about 18:30 local time and took about 50 minutes flight. According to the scheduled operation the aircraft started its flight ten minutes before Sun set to fly to the assigned bird location for spraying chemicals.On the day of the accident the airstrip lights were positioned by the captain himself at the edges of the airstrip. He put seven lamps at the left side and three lamps at the right side of the airstrip. The red lamp which should have been placed at the beginning of the airstrip was not placed that day due to a flat battery. At about 15:45 UTC the aircraft took-off for spraying birds. That night was dark and there was no moon light. After take-off the technician switched on all lamps except the red one waiting for aircraft arrival. Fifty minutes after take-off the aircraft was seen approaching the airstrip. The aircraft came flying over the strip at a height of about 25 meters and made a left turn. The aircraft then made another approach and came over the left row of lamps at a height of about 10 meters, as stated by the technician, and made a sharp left turn. At that instant the aircraft went down and crashed east of the airstrip. A fire erupted. The pilot died of his injuries. Although the airplane was formally registered ST-AUS in July 2009, the airplane still carried its previous Polish registration mark SP-WMH.

The flight progress strip at Al Fashir aerodrome control tower illustrate that on the 6th of July 2009 – ST-TYB, AN-28 departed Al Fashir at time 0601 UTC, estimated time to arrive destination Sarif-Umra was 0650 UTC, persons on board were two (crew only), intended flight level was 085 (VFR) re-cleared later FL105, fuel endurance was 3,5 hours, load on board as indicated on the cargo manifest was 1511 k.gm (food stuff) destined for the UNAMID forces. Aircraft center of gravity was organized. Calculated actual take off weight was 6335 k.gm and the actual landing weight was 6035 k.gm as reported by the pilot. The aircraft proceeded normally to destination at FL 105, when it reached the airfield, the pilot stated that, they started descend gradually at a speed of 250 km/h willing to check the strip serviceability and to specify the direction of landing from the located wind sock. They detected that, the strip was clear, dry and the wind was favorable to the direction of 23 (strip 23/05). As the crew established a speed of 210 km/h at an altitude of 60 meters on final approach, they saw a dust devil storm on their right crossing the air strip, to avoid this phenomena, they decided to go around for another approach. Eye witnesses confirmed the occurrence of the storm at the time the aircraft commenced the final approach. The crew reported that, they started a right turn and applied full power to gain height, but they felt that there was no response from the engines and the aircraft was influenced by a wind shear and began to sink. The crew managed to control the aircraft, but in few minutes its altitude decreased rapidly. At time 0650 UTC the aircraft impacted with the ground and rolled, there after struck a small rock and bounced, finally the aircraft impacted the ground by the left main gear and nose, and stopped at a distance of 1,850 meters from the beginning of strip 05 coordinates N 13 29.527 ـــــــ E 023 16.794. Crews (2) were safe and the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The aircraft was cleared for takeoff and began its departure roll with flaps retracted, according to flight data recorder. The aircraft rotated at 280 kph (151 knots) and became airborne at 288 kph (155 knots) at an angle of attack of about 8-9 degrees. Tyre marks on the runway showed, that the aircraft had gone past the end of the runway, the main tyres had impacted runway end lights and the tyre tracks continued past the paved surface of the stopway. Climbing through 15 feet the pilot flying commanded the gear up and increased the pitch angle, the angle of attack increased to more than 10 degrees while the gear doors opened for gear retraction increasing the drag of the aircraft, which began to slow, the speed reduced to 305 kph (164 knots), stall speed for the takeoff weight, and the left wing began to stall, the angle of attack increased to 17 degrees, the aircraft at a height of 5-7 meters/15-23 feet. The pilot flying tried to counteract the roll to the left by fully applying left aileron which also deployed the right wing spoilers, right rudder input was provided. The pilot flying instructed the flight engineer to NOT retract flaps indicative neither pilot was aware the flaps were up. Following that instruction the flight engineer selected the flaps down, the aircraft speed was 300 kph (162 knots) and the aircraft in an unrecoverable stall with no height left. The left hand wing struck a high voltage mast about 1200 meters past the runway end at a height of 5.4 meters (18 feet) shearing off the left wing tip, contacted the flag post at the entrance of the Green Square, the left wing contacted the stem of a tree at a height of about 40 cm (1.3 feet) separating the ailerons and causing fuel spilling from the left wing, the aircraft broke through the eastern brick wall of Green Square, collided with two more electric poles causing engine #4 to separate 1504 meters from the end of the runway and impacted ground at 30 degrees nose down, 30 degrees left bank. Debris was distributed over a length of more than 500 meters, the aircraft burst into flames. All 4 crew perished in the crash, 4 people on the ground received serious, 3 more received minor injuries.

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.

The four engine aircraft departed Khartoum-Haj Yusuf Airport at 0759LT on a cargo flight to Juba, carrying four crew members and a load of 11 tons of various goods. After takeoff, while climbing, the crew reported the failure of the engine n°3 and was cleared to return for an emergency landing. After touchdown, the aircraft went out of control, veered off runway and came to rest in the military area of the airport, bursting into flames. All four crew members were injured while two people on the ground were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire.

Owned by United Arabian Airlines, the four engine aircraft departed Khartoum on a cargo flight to Geneina on behalf of AZZA Air Transport. After touchdown, the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance, overran and came to rest in a sandy area. There were no injuries but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair after the undercarriage were torn off and the left wing tip was sheared off. Witnesses interviewed by the Panel stated that the majority of the passengers were military personnel. In addition to the passengers there were two D-22 type 122 mm artillery howitzers and 40 to 50 wooden boxes painted olive drab, suspected to contain arms and ammunition. The cargo was offloaded during the days following the crash under the supervision of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) who continued to guard the aircraft throughout the following week. In an official report published at the end of April 2007, UNO criticized the Sudanese authorities for not respecting the various points of resolution 1591 which stipulates that Sudan is not authorized to deliver military equipment to the Darfur region.

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.

A first attempt to take off from El Obeid Airport failed. During the second attempt, an engine caught fire and the aircraft crashed. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

After touchdown on runway 05, the aircraft went out of control, veered off runway and came to rest. There were no injuries while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair as the left engine and the undercarriage were torn off.

The aircraft was completing a flight to Geneina, carrying an unknown number of people and a load consisting of 30 tons of ammunitions. After touchdown at Geneina Airport, the four engine aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran and came to rest few dozen metres further in a field, broken in several pieces. There were no casualties.