MD81 At Kinshasa (Congo)?

[lame]

Is anyone aware who the operator is in Kinshasa that is going to introduce an MD81 shortly?

If so, any information please.

[RASTAMIKE]

that will be interesting to know. Compared to all the 9Q registered junks flying in Congo, wonder who will insure a MD-81 and how this aircraft will cope with permanent overloading in high elevation airfield at hot temperature. There was a DC-9-32 on 9Q register but is resting now peacefully in BZV where it belly landed.

[jetjackel]

Hope its not Wetrafa. I delivered that DC-9-32 and, god help us, attempted to train the crews. Short contract. Anyone know what happened to 9Q-CWF in BZV? At least they put it on the grass.

While there, the owner wanted me to certify his brother as a captain. Problem was he only held a commercial ticket, from some country I'd never heard of, and I've been around. They said it didn't matter in the Congo and would be ok. Didn't happen, but could have, but that's just me.

I remember CWF had a Volvo GPS for navigation, like in the Volvo car.

Gotta love the lugs.

[lame]

Wetrafa is the name someone on another site thought it might be. :confused:

Does anyone know for sure.

[MrNosy]

Believe 9Q-CWF was repaired. Not seen anything to explain the apparent loss of control which ultimately led to the pilot belly landing though.

[jetjackel]

The registration is the same aircraft I worked with out of Kinshasa. The latest name might be Wetrafa Airlift, as the accident report in the Safety network mentioned another ending on the Wetrafa. Someone indicating it was repaired and flown out?

[RASTAMIKE]

Belly landing; probably damaged beyond repair.


if that one is repaired, probably without involvement of the manufacturer, guess it is in a non-airworthiness condition...

[jetjackel]

Doubt the manufacturer was envolved also. By the time my contract ended and I left, they were putting auto parts and whatever on it.

[lame]

Okay, so the DC9 is finished. :(

Does anyone know whether or not, Wetrafa are the ones getting the MD81? :confused:

Also it sounds like some of you have been there, is it as bad as one would think, that is VERY bad there. :sad:

[RASTAMIKE]

lame,

Hummm.... what do you expect to find in a country that has been dragged into civil war for years, before decades of dictatorship and corruption at all levels. The country's regulating authority (RVA) is declared as non-compliant to ICAO standards by the FAA, and that it the least one can say....the rest, you can guess.

Some concrete examples:

Vickers Viscount. These aircraft are having a new life (span) and are extensively flown all around the country. To maintain this type of aircraft and the condition it has to operate, is linked to wonders, but something the fan hit the sh..T:

Vickers 835 Viscount April 2003: One engine was damaged after landing on a 900m gravel strip in Congo! A three-engine takeoff was attempted, but one engine failed on takeoff, causing the plane to crash into trees.

Lockheed L1101 Tristar. The C and D checks were due big time but are kept in the air extensively. On 8th of August 2002, one took off from Ndijili to Brussels (it was the 250 model). The Flight Eng reported engine temperature problems on 2. Finally the engine imploded overhead Libreville. Captain requested immediate emergency landing. The flight ops in Kinshasa ordered the crew to return to Kinshasa for repair and transfer of the pax onto another Tristar. It landed back by exceeding the MLDW (no fuel dumping) with another engine failing. All tires blew and the undercarriage was damaged beyond repair. The aircraft was declared a write-off.

B727. Goma has an availalable runway length of 2000 meters, may be 1900 meters, depends if the AN-12 are parked on one side but the hard 3 meters high lava stone will not move away so quickly anymore. Elevation + temperature + obstacles + overloading: very spectacular take-offs by 727, think of Cotonou at X-mas 2003.

Antonov 32 rolling at full speed into a meat market at N'dolo airport for 600 meters, killing 237 peasants. Not a good idea to allow a market to use available space around a runway.

IL76 opening its ramp door at FL300 or so and more than 200 people sucked out (unofficial figures). Nobody knows how many boarded the plane.

IL18D. The passengers seats are white garden plastic seats!

[lame]

Okay, thank you, sounds like it is as I suspected, a great place. :ok:

To keep away from............ ;)

[jetjackel]

Sorry Lame if I changed the subject. Maybe you should drop a dime and drop in on Kinshasa......might get you out of the armchair. Sure you'd find it real interesting.....and maybe find out who is getting the MD.

[lame]

jetjackel,

I did not say anything about anyone hijacking the thread.

Your sarcastic comments are not needed though. :mad:

I was contacted regarding possible employment there, looking after an MD81, however I do not know who the operator is, or what it is like in Kinshasa, I was only trying to find out. :rolleyes:

I need to know very soon, so even IF I could afford to visit Kinshasa, which I cannot (from Australia), there would NOT be enough time. :(

Guess I should know better than to ask here.............. :sad:

Lame.

[alexmcfire]

Lame, for us armchair travellers I recommend "in the footstep of Mr Kurtz", a good read about the country.

[Black Baron]

lame,
I would say the Democratic Republic of Congo (is it still called that? It was Zaire when I was there) is one of the worst places on the planet.

You've seen Aplocalypse Now? That is based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart's of Darkness", which alexmcfire refers to. Nothing's changed much in the 100 years since that was written. Maybe watch "When we were Kings" with the Muhhamed Ali and the Rumble in the Jungle.

The only way into the interior is by air or "up the river" on a dilapidated barge. When the locals arn't eating each other (true) they like a nice plate of beetle grubs or monkey brain. Life is worthless there, and just about everything is doing a pretty good job of trying to kill you. If you look through an encylopedia of tropical medicine, it will all be rampant there.


The sort of place you'd want to send the Mother-in-Law for her summer hols.

Nice beer though:ok: mmmm Primus

[lame]

Thank you all for your help. :ok:

I think I will give it a miss............ ;)

[RASTAMIKE]

beautifull country with plenty of natural ressources:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/486303/L

with this picture of a Short Skyvan taking a break in Walikale.

If you own a mobile phone, in there is Coltan, a precious metal that originates from this place...