DRC Plane Crash - 11 Feared Dead

[MicroFlyer]

Just heard that a plane crashed in the DRC - 11 feared dead. Does anyone have information?

Cheers,

MicroFlyer

[Gunship]

Kinshasa - Eleven people were killed and one survived when an Antonov 26 plane crashed while preparing to land in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN-sponsored radio reported on Thursday.

Twelve people were aboard the aircraft, including six crew members, when the plane crashed Wednesday near Lubutu, about 130km from Kisangani, Okapi radio said.

There was only one survivor, it said.

The plane had been chartered by the private company Kisangani Airlines List. - Sapa-AFP

[Deanw]

From News24:


11 killed in DRC plane crash

05/05/2005 12:38 - (SA)

Kinshasa - Eleven people were killed and only one survived when an Antonov 26 plane crashed while preparing to land in the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) city of Kisangani, Okapi, a United Nations-sponsored radio station reported on Thursday.

Twelve people were aboard the aircraft, including six crew members, when the plane crashed on Wednesday near Lubutu, some 130 kilometres from the DRC's third largest city Kisangani, said Okapi.

The plane had been chartered by the private company, Kisangani Airlines List.

A KAL official said the plane had taken off from Kisangani's Bangboka airport early on Wednesday afternoon, heading for Isiro.

It could not land in Isiro for unknown reasons and headed back towards Kisangani. The plane "hit a tree" before crashing, the KAL official said.

Kisangani lies in a bend of the River Congo in a densely forested region.

DRC aviation authorities said they were aware of the accident, but were unable to give further details.

Plane crashes are fairly frequent in the DRC, where many runways are badly marked and planes are often overloaded.

An Antonov 26 crashed in November 2003, killing 33 people, in the northern Equateur Province. The plane was overloaded and could not take off, crashing into a small marketplace near the runway.

[Gunship]

:hmm: :hmm: :hmm: Plane crashes are fairly frequent in the DRC, where many runways are badly marked and planes are often overloaded. :bored: :bored: :bored:

[wheels up]

What??? An AN 24 / 26 crashed???

How unusual.

[poorwanderingwun]

Seems this one was not a maintenance or overload problem....at least not overloaded with fuel anyway....
A/c took off for Isiro....Wx out so returned but Wx prevented landing there as well.... probably (not confirmed) exhausted fuel...
Before anyone leaps into action to criticise they should try flying around Congo at this time of the year....Africa Wins Again.
RIP.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

Aircraft in Congo are sometimes (more often than not) operated illegally due to the deficiency in the met reporting from most fields. PAE and the UN have tried to remedy this at the fields they mainly use but few operators even bother.:(

[poorwanderingwun]

SRT....
You make it sound as though we have a choice....
It's common for us to fly 800 nm over the rain-forest to a dirt strip with no alternate on arrival for maybe 250 miles and no comms with the destination...... Of course there's no weather reporting.... As for forecasting....how does anyone forecast where a huge Wx system will develop that might blank out a 1000 square miles of territory with Cb activity ? It's not like fog, widespread and relatively consistent. To have absolutey no way through is not common but it can happen...Nobody will pay for the aircraft to fly around almost empty except for fuel...
DRC has almost no aviation infrastructure yet aviation is the primary means of transport..The country is the size of western Europe but with only a handful of manned airports, fewer than that with runway lighting.....It can be very demanding and at times, lethal.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

PWW

I'm not gunning you or anyone in this regard. Been there, done that and have a garage full of t-shirts. I'm merely drawing attention to the fact that it's technically illegal, albeit leaving no real choice other than to cancel the flight and risk losing the job. Most of the time you make a plan, figure out an alternative way to do things and get the job done. Occasionally things get ugly and people die. Met, proper facilities and decent comms are things airline types take for granted and contract pilots learn to live without. :(

It's a hard road and just makes one appreciate that airline job a bit more (when you eventually get one....hopefully.).