A Hewa Bora McDonnell Douglas MD-82, flight EO-121 from Kinshasa N’Djili to Kisangani (Democratic Republic of Congo) with 101 people on board, burst a tyre on takeoff from N’Djili Airport, debris damaged a hydraulic system and left hand engine. The crew decided to return to the airport, but could not lower some gear anymore causing the airplane to veer off the runway after touch down. The airplane came to a stand still on brushy and grassy ground off the runway, no injuries occured, the damage to the aircraft is unknown.
The airline confirmed, that the airplane returned to Kinshasa on one engine. The deplorable state of the runway caused a tyre damage on takeoff, which damaged a hydraulic system and the left hand engine forcing the engine to be shut down, the hydraulic failure preventing part of the gear to extend resulting in a runway excursion. All passengers and crew exited the airplane uninjured.
By: Arabella-Cox - 22nd June 2010 at 19:17
I’ve landed on some pretty dodgy runways in Africa. Very seldom if ever do the airport authorities do runway inspections and the surfaces are often in poor shape, so that might lend credence to their story.
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June 22, 2010 at 6:22 am