I would like to hear the full story about this accident but given the country in which it occured and the fact that it was a non-revenue flight, I doubt that we will ever find out much.
It certainly highlights the potential hazards of airtesting and the reason for keeping the number of observers down to the bare minimum.
S&L
By ANDnetwork .com
A Boeing 737 belonging to a senior aviation figure in the Democratic Republic of Congo crashed during a test flight on Friday (14 Apr 2006), killing all seven people on board.
The incident occurred at the capital Kinshasa's airport.
Airport sources said the plane was making a landing when its port-side undercarriage failed, causing the crash. Reports said the flightcrew, which included a number of aero-engineers, had battled in vain to safely land the stricken aircraft.
It belonged to General Kikunda, who had been air force commander during Mobutu Sese Seko's presidency (1965 - 1997) when the country was named Zaire. Kikunda, who was also the former head of the state aviation administration, was not on board at the time of the accident.
Kikunda had ordered the test flight, as he had decided to put the aircraft back into use after nearly 10 years of standing idle. It had been left on the airport's parking apron since 1997.
-Xinhua-
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