Sudan military coup, A330 burning...
 

Sudan military coup... It seems an Airbus 330 burning with emergency doors open and deployed...

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Rumours say 1 A330 of Saudia and 1 737-800 of SkyUp damaged.

Saudia, HZ-AQ30

I think ‘damaged’ is a slight understatement!

One lil question, how do they manage to maintain aircraft like the 330 in such demonstrably unstable places? Like how do they setup the infrastructure for even basic maintenance actions?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (the aircraft owner) is a (relatively) civilized and advanced place where one can operate an Airline :oh:
Now on a related topic bit surprised by BA65 actually (LHR-NBO) turning back and many other scattering around. Does Sudan have SAM or an actual air force ? Yes, in case of a need to divert things can get dicey but the overfly a war torn regions by commercial aviation is unfortunately relatively common. I guess never too prudent...

BBC radio just said that passengers were dragged out of the airplanes.

P.S., I can’t find news to back up this report.

P.P.S., If I was in a plane that was on fire, I would want to exit immediately.

There are videos of a fighter jet flying low over Karthoum, firing rockets. (Edit: apparently from the regular Air Force, firing on RSF rebels.) The RSF rebel forces seem to have conquered a bunch of air bases, where they also captured a number of Egyptian Air Force Mig 29, along with their pilots. Apparently, they were based in Sudan since 2020. Check out this Twitter thread for pictures and videos of both.
Another aircraft has been destroyed in Karthoum, apparently a regional jet operating for the UN?

Sudan
 

👀👀👀 Reportedly 10 aircraft - they’d get a lot of kudos giving them to Ukraine - who I am sure, along with partner nations, would provide a lot of small arms and other ground equipment in exchange.

Egyptian MiG-29 fighter jets captured by Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Merowe Airbase, Sudan.


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Rapid Reaction/Support Forces have captured Al Shahid Sabira International airport, in West Darfur region, Sudan.

Scenes from Karthoum airport

Sudden, and maybe disorganised withdrawal of ATC services, perhaps?

I heard on the news that a Ukrainian aircrew are being held hostage.

Interresting
Egyptian Mig crewed by Ukrainian mercenaries.
Interresting world we live in 🙄

The Ukrainians would presumably be from SkyUp Airlines.

Also several UR registered Mi-8 based in Khartoum / Kassala for UN WFP missions supporting the Tigray refugee camps.

I see
So who is supposed to fly those Egyptian fighters? Who does ground service?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65284948Since a coup in October 2021, Sudan has been run by a council of generals and there are two military men at the centre of the dispute. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president. And his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.

They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule. One of the main sticking points is over the plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army and who would then lead the new force. The violence follows days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.

There had been some hope that talks could resolve the situation but these never happened. It is not clear who fired the first shot on Saturday morning but there are fears that this will worsen an already unstable situation. Diplomats have urged the two sides to cease fire.

The RSF was formed in 2013 and has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia that brutally fought off rebels in Darfur.

Since then, Gen Dagalo has built a powerful force that has intervened in conflicts in Yemen and Libya and controls some of Sudan's gold mines. Rivalry between Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (pictured) and Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is at the heart of the problem It has also been accused of human rights abuses, including the massacre of more than 120 protesters in June 2019. Such a strong force outside the army has been seen as a source of instability in the country.

The Egyptian military. Their troops and aircraft were supposedly in the country on "exercise" and "surrendered" to the RSF, according to Reuters.