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Old 30th Jun 2009, 06:00
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L1011
 
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Moroni is a notoriously difficult airfield to fly into, especially at night. The airport is at sea-level on the West side of a skinny island, with a 7700' mountain just to the southeast of it and a 3600' one to the northeast..

There is no published approach to Rwy 20, just an VOR/DME/ILS for 02.

Easy to get disoriented at night as there are very few ground lights, a true 'black-hole' with part of it being the volcano mentioned.

Think SAA had a daylight-only policy for Moroni. No need to look further than CFIT and/or disorientation for this one IMHO.

Another sad day for us all.
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