Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952

Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952
9Q-COP seen at Goma Airport in May 2010
Accident
Date 8 July 2011
Summary Impacted ground short of runway on approach to land
Site Bangoka International Airport, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
0°28′10″N 25°22′12″E / 0.46944°N 25.37000°E / 0.46944; 25.37000Coordinates: 0°28′10″N 25°22′12″E / 0.46944°N 25.37000°E / 0.46944; 25.37000
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 727-30
Operator Hewa Bora Airways
Registration 9Q-COP
Flight origin N'djili Airport, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Destination Bangoka International Airport, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Passengers 112
Crew 6
Fatalities 74
Injuries 40
Survivors 44

Hewa Bora Airways Flight 952 (EO952/ALX952) was a passenger flight which crashed at Bangoka International Airport, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 8 July 2011. Seventy-four of the 118 people on board died. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 727-30, was operating Hewa Bora Airways' domestic scheduled service from N'djili Airport, Kinshasa, to Bangoka. It crashed about 200 m (220 yd) from the airport, amid bad weather.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-022,[1] manufacturer's serial number 18323,[2] registration 9Q-COP.[3] The aircraft had entered service with United Airlines on 22 April 1965 and had served with Korean Air, World Airways, and Ladeco before it was acquired by Hewa Bora Airways in April 2010.[2]

In 2004, the aircraft was operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the Swaziland registration 3D-BOC. That registration was cancelled in 2005 and the aircraft was then operated under the São Tomé and Príncipe register as S9-DBM, but without correct documentation and not officially on that register. In 2010, the aircraft was registered to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as 9Q-COP. At the time of the accident, it had flown for 52,613 hours.[4]

Accident

At about 15:00 local time, Flight 952 crashed about 200 m (220 yd) from Bangoka International Airport, Kisangani,[1] as it attempted to land during weather conditions that included heavy rain and limited visibility. Thunderstorms were reported in the area.[3] A total of 112 passengers were on board, as well as six crew members.[1]

Initial reports said between 50[5] and 127[6] people were killed, but the airline later refused to give specific numbers because rescue operations were still ongoing. It only said there were both fatalities and survivors.[7] The number of survivors was put at between 42 and 53.[3] According to Mario-Real Shutsha, Congo's secretary general, a total of 74 people have died, and 44 have survived.[8] An early investigation showed that five victims were not originally included on the plane's manifest, with the CEO of Hewa Bora Airways, Stavros Papaioannou, stating that some people were using tickets registered under other names to fly.[9]

The wreckage of flight 952 on 26 August one month after the crash

Casualties

The casualties of the flight were:[3]

Killed Survivors Total
Crew 4 2 6
Passengers 70 42 112

Casualties included the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Isangi, Camille Lembi Zaneli.[10]

Investigation

An investigation was opened into the accident. A preliminary report was issued which did not include data gained from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or flight data recorder (FDR). It found that the captain of the aircraft, who had been qualified to fly the MD-82 and other DC-9 variants, was not qualified to fly a 727, and the tower controllers were not licensed. The tower gave false weather information to the flight crew, which also misjudged the weather. The airport was found to be lacking security plans. Radio communications from the control tower were not recorded, as both recorders were broken. The American National Transportation Safety Board assisted in the investigation, handling the retrieval of the data from the CVR and FDR.[4]

Aftermath

The Ministry of Transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo suspended Hewa Bora Airways Air Operator's Certificate, citing repeated accidents suffered by the airline, including the accidents suffered by Flight 122 on 15 April 2008 and an accident involving Flight 601 at N'djili Airport on 21 June 2010.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 "9Q-COP Hewa Bora Airways Boeing 727–022(WL) – cn 18933 / ln 136". Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hradecky, Simon (8 July 2011). "Accident: Hewa Bora B721 at Kisangani on Jul 8th 2011, missed runway on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 Hradecky, Simon (17 August 2011). "Crash: Hewa Bora B721 at Kisangani on Jul 8th 2011, missed runway on landing". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  5. ↑ "DR Congo plane crashes at Kisangani airport". BBC News Online. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "51 survivors, 127 dead in Congo plane wreck, officials say". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "'People killed' after passenger plane crashes in DR Congo". BNO News. Archived from the original on 2 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Death toll from DR Congo plane crash rises to 74". Pakistan Observer. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  9. ↑ Kavanagh, Michael J. (13 July 2011). "Congolese Plane Crash Death Toll Rises to 83, Probes Begin". Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  10. ↑ "Congo: nell'incidente aereo di Kisangani è morto anche il vescovo di Isangi mons. Lembi Zaneli". Radio Vaticana (in Italian). 9 July 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2011.

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