B1900 missing in the congo?
 

any news on this one?

Congo or DRC? We have 2 a/c in DRC, if anyone has any news, please post!

AirServ, CEMAIR aircraft ? Sorry my french:

RDC: un avion porté disparu
Un avion d'une compagnie internationale affrétant des vols humanitaires, qui était attendu lundi soir à Bukavu, dans l'est de la RDC, est porté disparu, a-t-on appris de sources onusiennes. L'appareil avait décollé de Kinshasa.

On ignorait dans l'immédiat combien de personnes se trouvaient à bord de l'avion. L'appareil est d'une capacité de transport de 19 passagers.

Certains des passagers embarqués seraient des membres des Nations unies en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). La mission de l'ONU en RDC (Monuc) compte 19 000 personnes, et beaucoup d'agences des Nations unies sont également présentes.

Les accidents d'avion sont fréquents en RDC. Le 15 avril 2008, un DC9 de la compagnie privée congolaise Hewa Bora s'était écrasé sur Goma (est), faisant au moins 47 morts et plus d'une centaine de blessés.

(ats / 02 septembre 2008 05:20)

More news
 

KINSHASA (Reuters) - A humanitarian plane went missing during a storm in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, U.N. humanitarian coordinator OCHA said.

"We have a missing plane. We don't know if it's landed or crashed," Christophe Illemassene, spokesman in Congo for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Reuters.

"We don't have the manifest so we don't really know how many people were on board," he said.

The plane was on its way from the city of Kisangani to the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda, when it lost contact with ground control.

"The last contact that we had was as they were approaching Bukavu ... Apparently the weather was pretty nasty in Bukavu," Illemassene said.


He said the 19-seat Beechcraft was operated by Air Serv International, a not-for-profit organization which provides air transport services to humanitarian operations around the world.

"We know it didn't land at any other airport in the area," he said. "There is not really much we can do right now. There will be a search at dawn."

Air Serv is one of several entities and private contractors which service Congo's large community of humanitarian workers.

Most humanitarian organizations operating in the country restrict travel by their personnel on commercial flights in Congo due to local airlines' abysmal safety record and frequent crashes.

Apparently the wreckage was just found close to Bukavu..

Let us still hope for the best!!

Confirmed: No survivors. :sad: R.I.P. ZS-OLD

Any news on who the crew was? Take it they were SA guys or gals...:(

I'd also be interested to know who the crew were, worked for ASI for a few years in DRC and still know a lot of people there...

Sad news

Condolences to all involved.

Dog

Indeed a sad loss for all those and their families.

However, having had flown in that part of the world for a few years and even after leaving that kind of flying behind, I still am interested to read the Africa Forum, I find it alarming the number of crashes that occur in the DRC, and more so by the number of ZS registered planes involved, which are well maintained and crewed by well trained pilots.

Without wanting to hi-jack this topic, perhaps it would be better to start a new thread, but I would like to pose the question.

Is the pressure that bad on crews from their operators to get into airfields with limited approaches/approach aids and in marginal weather, and especially considering the UN and all these organisations have 'unlimited' funds and could happily pay for another flight the following day.

I am baffled that anyone would put their life on the line going into such places in bad weather.

My Condolences
 

My condolences go out to the families of all those aboard the flight. It is not the first time ZS a/c have gone down in these hills. :(

Condolences to families of all on board.

Let's wait for more details before second guessing the decisions made by the pilots preceding this tragedy.

It was not second guessing anyone's decision, it was just a question regarding if there is pressure to get into places.

Facts are facts, several planes have crashed in this part of the DRC which as you know is very mountainous with limited nad aids and where the weather can be terrible.

Also, there never seems to be any accident reports published, or none that ever make their way onto here after a plane crashes in the DRC, so to say, lets wait for the facts is like saying 'I worked really hard to get my DRC ATPL'.

Apparent CFIT.
 

Bad one this.

Apparently it was CFIT.......Gear was apparently down and hit terrain on the descent.(8 nm's from touchdown).

Captain had approx 1000 hrs on 1900's and co-pilot had experience on 1900's.

For them both, it was their 3 tour for Airserve in the same area.

Weather was bad.

RIP both of you, your passion for flying and smiling faces will be remembered.

(Sorry, cannot post names for obvious reasons).
Goffel.

Terrible stuff, fly safely everyone.

If you've flown there then you know that the Wx systems there can be huge... if you were determined never to encounter one you'd never get airborne. I once took off from a dirt strip to fly a 35 min leg to another dirt strip and got totally cut off (B200) by a system that must have covered around 6000 sq miles... we were looking seriously at 'landing' on a mud-spit on the Ubenge river when a small gap allowed us to squeeze through to a hairy landing with just 12 min fuel remaining after a 2hr:30min flight !

Goffel... Would appreciate a pm regarding the crew... The guy with me in the cockpit that day is still flying with Airserv on the 1900 and as yet I've not had a response to an e-mail... many thanks.

condolences
 

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the passengers and crew, may you find strength to endure through this extremly difficult time.

Of course, have a look who the aircraft belongs to and look who lurks there in the background.. (Lots of blood on his hands already)

Safetyman,

Same thought crossed my mind, amazing how the devil looks after his own. Wonder how he could get in with an outfit like Air Serv with his reputation?

Condolences to the families.