Crash at Contonou

[Gouabafla]

From the BBC. Dec 25 2003

Plane crash 'kills many' in Benin


Dozens of people are believed to have died in a plane crash in Benin, police and witnesses say.
The passenger plane went down on Thursday after taking off from the main city, Cotonou. It was headed for Beirut in Lebanon.

A witness quoted by Reuters news agency said he had seen more than 30 bodies lined up on the beach near the plane.

Some witnesses say about 60 people have been killed. There is no word on what caused the crash.

One of the crewmembers on board, who survived the disaster, told local journalists that most of the passengers were Lebanese.

Other unconfirmed reports in Beirut said there were 140 passengers on board.



With deepest sympathy to the families of all involved.

[126,7]

The following article from: http://www.aviationheadlines.com/

The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon
More than 60 people, mostly Lebanese, were killed Thursday when a passenger plane bound for Beirut crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from the west African nation of Benin, Lebanese airport officials said.

UTA Flight 141 from Cotonou, Benin's capital, was carrying about 140 passengers, including crew members.

Television images showed bloodied people sitting on a beach and pieces of the plane lying in the surf: shorn-off landing gear, pieces of a wing, the cockpit and the rear part of the fuselage, along with an engine.

Tangled wires and metal hung from the ripped-open fuselage. An injured man held his head, crying.

The airport officials said the Boeing 727 had been chartered by two Lebanese men, and most of the passengers were believed to be returning home for the Christmas holiday.

Thousands of Lebanese immigrants live and work in West African countries.

[Gunship]

One of the sadest moments of my life.

I know the aircraft operators and a lot of the pax from SL and Guinea.

Take it as a rumour but 124 pax died.

My deepest sympathy with your loss Ambassador, Khalill and Darweish.

Your wife and kids will always be in my memory.

You are a great family - stick together through this very difficult time.

RIP little angels.

[Gunship]

Cotonou - Christmas joy gave way to sorrow in the tiny west African state of Benin when a Boeing 727 loaded with Lebanese families en route to Beirut crashed into the sea upon take-off.

"I got to the beach and was putting my flippers on when I heard a loud noise and saw a plane skidding into the water," a retired military officer told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"I dove into the water right away to help recover the bodies," he said. "I saw the pilot, who was ejected on to the beach. He stood up and then keeled over."

Three massive lamps were dragged onto the Atlantic coastal beach that stretches along the runway at the airport in the Benin capital Cotonou for rescuers to continue late-night efforts to recover all 156 passengers and seven crew members aboard the Union Transport Africaines (UTA) flight.

Local fishermen and families were the first to leap in the water
Local fishermen and families enjoying the Christmas holiday were the first to leap in the water after the plane hit a building and then skidded across the runway, bumping 500m along the sand to tip nose down into the water.

"We pulled 30 people out of the water," one quick-thinking beachgoer said. "Only ten were still alive."

"It was more important to try and hoist the plane out of the water because a lot of people were still buckled in, and it was the best way to try and get them out alive," said another.

They were still there, early on Friday, joining firefighters in a 20-man tug of war with the airplane wreckage still stuck in the water. Still more bodies coming, now four on the shore, added to 57 in hospital and 22 injured, according to the health ministry's official toll. Other government sources put the fatalities at 82.

According to the passenger manifest, most of them were Lebanese, traveling home for the holidays to see families they had left behind to build entire Lebanese communities across west Africa's major cities, forming a backbone of their economies.

'We normally hear about this stuff on the radio'
Luggage and lighter airplane debris had earlier washed up on the shore, buffeted by the current that had, by nightfall, dragged many suitcases Nand many victims - below the surface.

Harab Bambo was one of the lucky ones, pulled with minor fractures from the flight and sent to hospital with his wife and two children, the youngest just three years old.

"They had just started the security demonstration when we heard a huge noise," :confused: said the 37-year-old, his eyes continuously darting about, seeking reassurances for his family.

"And there was the plane, which hadn't really taken off, which just nosedived."

Down the beach from the rescuers are still more Lebanese families, among the thousands of people milling around in a state of shock after the worst airline tragedy to hit the tiny west African state.

"We have never had to live with such drama in our country," someone murmured.

"We normally hear about this stuff on the radio. It's so sad, especially on this holiday."

From IOL

[Gouabafla]

Guns, you have my fullest sympathies. I had friends on the Kenya Airways plane that went down off Abj four years ago and your post brings back some bad memories that were buried deep down.

Nothing I can say will lesson the pain, but for what it's worth, I'll be raising my glass silently to salute your friends and probably shedding a tear or two of my own.

Yacko, mon ami.

[Gunship]

Cheers Gouabafla,

What is so sad now is that the Darwish person I have mentioned was actually on the plane. He was the "Leasing manager" if you want to call it that way.

His wife and child died.

Khalill was the guy that helped many of you when you wanted to resign and join the bogus airline in SL.

He was the guy that gave me all the info/

He sadly lost his father a week ago with a heart attack and yesterday his two children.

My partner, his wife and their sister decided at the last minute NOT to fly .. the others went ahead ... :sad:

A sad , sad day ... a massive loss for all concerned !

Cheers,

Gunss

[marc perkins]

A very sad day indeed:(

What should have been seasons greetings to all becomes condolences.

We're thinking of you and all those affected in this tragedy Gunns!!!

RIP

[driver airframe]

"Union des Transports Africains de Guinée operates two flights a week from Conakry, Guinea to Beirut and Dubai with their newly acquired ex-American Airlines Boeing 727. On December 25, UTA Flight 141 departed Conakry, Guinea for a scheduled flight to Beirut, Lebanon with a planned intermediate stop at Cotonou. At Cotonou nine of the 92 passengers deplaned and 73 passengers boarded the flight. It was a warm afternoon at a temperature of 32 deg. C with a light breeze as the 727 taxied to runway 24. Runway 06/24 is an asphalt runway, measuring 2400 (7874 feet) meters with a 61m (199 feet) overrun zone. According to FAA runway length requirement calculations, a fully laden Boeing 727-200 with JT8D-9 engines and a 25-degrees flap setting would, given the weather and airfield elevation, need a runway length of approx. 8000 feet.
Apparently the 727 barely climbed after takeoff, causing the main undercarriage to strike the roof of a 2-3 meters high small building housing radio equipment. The operator inside the building suffered injuries. The plane continued, smashed through the airport boundary fence, crashed and broke up on the shoreline. <BR>
Weather METAR at the time of the accident (13:55Z) was: DBBB 251400Z 17006KT 130V210 8000 FEW015 BKN250 32/27 Q1009 NOSIG="

SAD NEWS CONDOLENCES TO ALL THE FRIENDS AND FAMILIES OF PAX AND CREW....

[126,7]

Some serious finger-pointing happening now about crew and operator...........


The crash at Cotonou in West Africa of a Boeing 727 passenger plane belonging to a Guinea airline, piloted by a Libyan crew and without a proper flying licence, highlights problems of flying in Africa, experts say.

The Christmas Day crash in the African state of Benin killed 113 people, most of them Lebanese expatriates heading home for the holidays.

The plane, owned by Union des Transports Africains, botched its takeoff and skidded down the runway, smashing into a building before tumbling into the Gulf of Guinea.

"In these countries there is no structure for working practices or for maintaining checks on operations," said Francois Grangier, a French accident investigation specialist.

"They don't have the idea of airports as places sealed off, closed and given over totally to aeronautics," said Grangier, an Air France pilot.

"Neither is there any framework for radio communication, ie for navigation means," he said. "And there is no administration for this almost non-existent structure, only a semblance of organisation that exists solely on paper."

"Physical conditions are very tough for planes," Grangier said. "Sometimes you're landing on territory that destroys tyres, storms can be violent, corrosion is a major factor."

"But these African companies have an extremely unstable financial basis and they only want to make money, not to spend it, so it's tempting to get a hold of any old plane that can be exploited cheaply."

Pilot qualifications are yet another problem.

"The pilots are of all different nationalities because they can't find any other work," he said.

"African states don't have any pilots' schools or proper crew training facilities, so these pilots have to be trained abroad."

Thus African states end up giving the equivalent of licences or work permits to pilots with licences acquired in foreign countries, "something which a Europoean state such as France would never tolerate", Grangier noted.

Maxime Coffin, head of training and technical surveillance at France's civil aviation authority DGAC, identified problems such as obsolete fleets, pilots willing to work to lower standards and a lack of aircraft maintenance.

But Coffin insisted that flying is still the safest way to travel through Africa and denied some planes are just flying rustbuckets.

He said the norms of the International Civil Aviation Authority are more precise and kept under better surveillance than those of the International Maritime Organisation.

Unlike ships, he noted, planes cannot fly under flags of convenience. -- Sapa-AFP

[ATC Watcher]

Sincere condoleances to all those affected by this tragedy..

___________________________________________________
quote : " Unlike ships, he noted, planes cannot fly under flags of convenience. " -
____________________________________________________

another statement from someone who probably never left his office : ! In which States are the Russian types flying around registered ?

[concordino]

Sad day for aviation in Africa, truly:sad:

My thoughts are with victims' families and relatives.

On another note though i quote ""The pilots are of all different nationalities because they can't find any other work,"

That is one of the dumbest statements i have read recently:mad:

[Rhodie]

"African states don't have any pilots' schools or proper crew training facilities, so these pilots have to be trained abroad."

This "Francois Grangier" - should confine his ramblings and doings to those things he purports to know about.

A sad day and condolences to the families and the friends who lost dear ones.

R

[Deanw]

Beirut - The serial number of a Boeing 727 that crashed on December 25 in Benin killing 141 passengers may have been altered, Lebanese state prosecutor Adnan Adoum said on Thursday.

The change possibly was made to disguise the plane as one with approval to land in Lebanon, the destination of the doomed flight, Adoum said. The serial number pulled from the wreck was identical with another aircraft, he told reporters.

The charter flight, with many Lebanese aboard, never should have landed in Benin, according to Adoum. An agreement with the plane's owner barred landings in Benin, he said. The flight originated in Guinea and was bound for Beirut.

The aircraft, operated by Union des Transports Africains, was registered in Guinea and had two major Lebanese shareholders.

Overloading has been cited as the probable reason why the plane failed to gain altitude upon taking off, shearing through an airport building near the capital city of Cotonou and plunging into the Gulf of Guinea. - Sapa-dpa

---------------------------

I was going to comment, but I'll think I'll wait to find out if it is really true as my blood is boiling :sad:

[126,7]

This does not really have that much to do with the crash at Benin, but more with the crash in Egypt.

After the Swiss DCA anounced that Flash Airlines was banned from entering Swiss airspace close on 2 years ago, Britain released a list of countries and some airlines whos aircraft are not allowed in british airspace.
Namely all airlines from Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia and Tadjikistan.
Also on the list are two airlines from Sierra Leone: Star Air and Air Universal. Air Express from the Congo and Albanian Airlines make up the rest.
Following the UK's example, Switzerland is now considering making their Black List public.
I think the sooner the better. It will put all these fly-by-night operators under pressure to get their act together. I hope so anyway......
Problem in Africa is that nobody checks up on anything, and if they do check then a few dollars quickly change hands and the matter is forgotten.

[Amabokoboko]

And the head of training in France is called "Max Coffin...":hmm:

[Gunship]

From a VERY trusted source :

Pilot's last words to co-pilot :

You are going to kill us ... :(

[alexmcfire]

10.000kilo overload and poorly loaded was the reason for the crash accord to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3574915.stm

[Pontius' Pilot]

I recently attended a briefing by a pilot from Boeing Flight Safety who mentioned the same i.e. that the aircraft had been overloaded. During the investigation they had apparently been unable to find a loadsheet for the flight neither in the wreckage nor filed in a dispatch office somewhere.

[JJflyer]

Some ops guys at DBBB never did any loadsheets, probably would not have even know that there is such a magical paper.
If they could fit stuff in to the aircraft you where within weight limits and if aircraft didn't tip on it's a.ss you where within CG limits.


JJ

[Gunship]

From between the office walls ...

The Aircraft was NOT overloaded but the C of G was way out of limits ...

Vr was never called ..

As I say between the walls .. apparently the BOI is not finished yet ?