Africa

En route from Juba to El Obeid, while cruising at an altitude of 24,000 feet, all four engines flamed out. The crew feathered the propeller, reduced his altitude and attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft struck the ground and crashed against trees. One occupant was seriously injured while six others were killed. Few hours later, the only survivor died from his injuries. It was reported that the aircraft was performing several round trips between Juba and El Obeid since May 9, each time with 9018 kgs of fuel uplifted in El Obeid while the average fuel consumption for a round trip was 10000 kgs. The crew was composed of an Armenian captain and ground engineer, a Sudanese first officer, a Sudanese navigator, a Sudanese radio operator, an Iraqi navigator and an Iraqi flight engineer.

The aircraft was chartered by a Sudanese Development Unit to deliver medics and other supplies to a school project in Ayod. Shortly after takeoff from Jiech Airport, while in initial climb, the twin engine aircraft stalled and crashed. One pilot and five passengers were killed while four other occupants were injured. Both pilots were New Zealand's citizens. It seems that the cargo shifted after takeoff, causing the aircraft to stall and crash.

Shortly after takeoff from Nampula Airport, while in initial climb, the aircraft went out of control and crashed, killing both occupants. They were engaged in a geological mission on behalf of the Mozambican government in the north part of the country.

For unknown reasons, the aircraft landed hard at Shabunda Airport. Upon landing, the nose gear collapsed and the airplane came to rest on the runway. Nobody was injured but the airplane was damaged beyond repair.

During a night takeoff from Cairo-Intl Airport runway 23L, the right main gear collapsed. The aircraft went out of control, veered off runway to the right and came to rest few hundred metres further with both right engines n°3 & 4 torn off. All seven occupants escaped uninjured.

The aircraft was operating a scheduled flight starting from its base at Arusha. It was to call at Lake Manyara, Klein’s Camp, Grumet and Seronera before returning to Arusha via Lake Manyara. 5H-MUA took off from Arusha at 0530 hours. It was carrying one pilot and 3 passengers. The VFR flight to Lake Manyara was uneventful and the aircraft landed at Lake Manyara at 0555 hours. Five more passengers joined the flight here and 5H-MUA subsequently took off for Klein’s Camp at 0615 hours. During initial climb, the engine failed. The pilot feathered the propeller and attempted an emergency landing on a road. But he was forced to make an evasive manoeuvre because of a truck. The aircraft lost speed and height, collided with a stone wall beside the road and came tor rest. All nine occupants were rescued, among them five were seriously injured.

The aircraft departed Hassi R'Mel-Tilrhempt Airport at 2030LT on a 15-minutes charter flight to Ghardaïa, carrying three crew members and two employees of the Sonatrach (Société Nationale pour le Transport et la Commercialisation d’Hydrocarbures). At 2044LT, the crew was cleared for a right hand circuit in preparation for an approach to runway 30. At that moment a Boeing 727 inbound from Djanet was on long finals. The copilot stated that he intended to carry out an NDB/ILS approach to runway 30. The captain however preferred a visual approach. The copilot carried out the captain's course and descent instructions with hesitation. At 2057LT, the EGPWS alarm sounded. Power was added and a climb was initiated from a lowest altitude of 240 feet above ground level. The captain then took over control and assumed the role of Pilot Flying. The airplane manoeuvred south of the airport until 2101LT when the copilot saw the runway. The captain rolled left to -57° and pitched down to -18.9° in order to steer the airplane towards the runway. Again the EGPWS sounded but the descent continued until the airplane impacted the ground and broke up. All five occupants were injured and the aircraft was destroyed. A day later, the copilot died from his injuries.

During the takeoff roll on runway 29, the aircraft did not accelerate as expected. The captain decided to abort the takeoff procedure but the aircraft could not be stopped within the remaining distance. It overran and collided with trees located 100 meters further. A crew member was injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Following a night takeoff from runway 22R at Sharm el Sheikh-Ophira Airport, the plane climbed and maneuvered for a procedural left turn to intercept the 306 radial from the Sharm el Sheikh VOR station. When the autopilot was engaged the captain made an exclamation and the autopilot was immediately switched off again. The captain then requested Heading Select to be engaged. The plane then began to bank to the right. The copilot then warned the captain a few times about the fact that the bank angle was increasing. At a bank angle of 40° to the right the captain stated "OK come out". The ailerons returned briefly to neutral before additional aileron movements commanded an increase in the right bank. The aircraft had reached a maximum altitude of 5,460 feet with a 50° bank when the copilot stated 'overbank'. Repeating himself as the bank angle kept increasing. The maximum bank angle recorded was 111° right. Pitch attitude at that time was 43° nose down and altitude was 3,470 feet. The observer on the flight deck, a trainee copilot, called 'retard power, retard power, retard power'. Both throttles were moved to idle and the airplane gently seemed to recover from the nose-down, right bank attitude. Speed however increased, causing an overspeed warning. At 04:45 the airplane struck the surface of the water in a 24° right bank, 24° nose-down, at a speed of 416 kts and with a 3,9 G load. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and debris sank by a depth of 900 metres. All 148 occupants were killed, among them 133 French citizens, one Moroccan, one Japanese and 13 Egyptian (all crew members, among them six who should disembark at Cairo). Weather at the time of accident was good with excellent visibility, outside temperature of 17° C and light wind. On January 17, the FDR was found at a depth of 1,020 metres and the CVR was found a day later at a depth of 1,050 metres.

Flight GIH 141 was a weekly scheduled flight, performed by the Union des Transports Africains (UTA), between Conakry (Guinea), Cotonou (Benin), Beirut (Lebanon) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates). A stopover at Kufra (Libya) was planned between Cotonou and Beirut. Having departed from Conakry at 10 h 07 with eighty-six passengers, including three babies, and ten crew members, the Boeing 727-223 registered 3X-GDO landed at Cotonou Cadjèhoun on 25 December 2003 at 12 h 25. Nine passengers disembarked. Sixty-three persons, including two babies, checked in at the airport check-in desk. Ten others, including one baby, boarded from an aircraft that had arrived from Lomé (Togo). Passenger boarding and baggage loading took place in a climate of great confusion. The airplane was full. In the cockpit, two UTA executives were occupying the jump seats. Faced with the particularly large number and size of the hand baggage, the chief flight attendant informed the Captain of the situation. The ground handling company’s agents began loading the baggage in the aft hold when one of the operator’s agents, who remains unidentified, asked them to continue loading in the forward hold, which already contained baggage. When the operation was finished, the hold was full. During this time, the crew prepared the airplane for the second flight segment. The co-pilot was discussing his concerns with the UTA executives, reminding them of the importance of determining the precise weight of the loading of the airplane. The flight plan for Kufra, signed by the Captain, was filed with the ATC office but the meteorological dossier that had been prepared was not collected. Fuel was added to fill up the airplane’s tanks (14,244 liters, or 11.4 metric tons). The accompanying mechanics added some oil. The Captain determined the limitations for the flight and selected the following configuration: flaps 25°, air conditioning units shut down. At 13 h 47 min 55, the crew began the pre-flight checklist. Calm was restored in the cockpit. At 13 h 52 min 12, flight GIH 141 was cleared to roll. The co-pilot was pilot flying (PF). The elevator was set at 6 ¾, it was stated that the takeoff would be performed with full power applied with brakes on, followed by a climb at three degrees maximum to gain speed, with no turn after landing gear retraction. As the roll was beginning, a flight attendant informed the cockpit that passengers who wanted to sit near their friends were still standing and did not want to sit down. The airline’s Director General called the people in the cabin to order. Take-off thrust was requested at 13 h 58 min 01, brake release was performed at 13 h 58 min 15. The airplane accelerated. In the tower, the assistant controller noted that the take-off roll was long, though he did not pay any particular attention to it. At 13 h 59, a speed of a hundred and thirty-seven knots was reached. The Captain called out V1 and Vr. The co-pilot pulled back on the control column. This action initially had no effect on the airplane’s angle of attack. The Captain called « Rotate, rotate »; the co-pilot pulled back harder. The angle of attack only increased slowly. When the airplane had hardly left the ground, it struck the building containing the localizer on the extended runway centerline, at 13 h 59 min 11. The right main landing gear broke off and ripped off a part of the underwing flaps on the right wing. The airplane banked slightly to the right and crashed onto the beach. It broke into several pieces and ended up in the ocean. The two controllers present in the tower heard the noise and, looking in the direction of the takeoff, saw the airplane plunge towards the ground. Immediately afterwards, a cloud of dust and sand prevented anything else being seen. The fire brigade duty chief stated that the airplane seemed to have struck the localizer building. The firefighters went to the site and noticed the damage to the building and the presence of a casualty, a technician who was working there during the takeoff. Noticing some aircraft parts on the beach, they went there through a service gate beyond the installations. Some survivors were still in the wreckage, others were in the water or on the beach. Some inhabitants from the immediate vicinity crowded around, complicating the rescuers’ task. The town fire brigade, the Red Cross and the Cotonou SAMU, along with some members of the police, arrived some minutes later.