I tend to agree with 126.9. The commander had operated that aircraft out of Songo on the Cohora Bassa dam wall where the aircraft was on contract on and off for a year. The Samburu strip as per the info freely available (3200feet paved at 3300feet elev) would have not even posed a challange to them with their loads in comparrison to Songo. So lets remember the destination airfield is not what caused the crash
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Foxcotte,
The destination airstrip was also too short for a landing - had one been tried it probably would have resulted in a crash - not with total loss of life, but with some injuries.
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- and getting in to a strip of that nature is far easier than getting out of it in a Metro. Still should not have been a problem from the info available - local knowledge of course is always best. Why they got into the position that they got into is the question at hand ie. FL152 against the mountain! Rumours (being a rumour network) had something to say about a dissagreement with ATC - any leads on that? They were still in a RADAR environment although elected to maintain VMC on an IFR flight plan - Were they under radar control and vectored?? All these questions need to be answered and we still need to maintain compossure and respect for our fellow aviators. Yes it will take at least a year for the guys in the white coats to come up with a probable cause and even then - as in the past - we won't be 100% sure. Also - many pilots make mistakes, and some live to talk about them.
R.I.P Normy/Damien
Last edited by gofor; 6th Aug 2003 at 03:04.