More Great Moments In Afro-Aviation

"The aircraft failed to gain altitude after taking off from N'Dolo Airport
and ran off the runway and crashed into a market square. The plane was
possibly overloaded. The aircraft certification was revoked and crew did not
have authorization to fly. The number killed on the ground varies widely
from different sources. The number 225 is derived from the Weekly Mail and
Guardian in an article covering the court trial of the pilots, charging them
with the deaths of 225 people."
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1996/1996-1.htm

"The An-32 freighter plane couldn't gain height after take-off from
Kinshasa-N'Dolo Airport. The crew elected to abort the take-off, but the
aircraft overran the runway by 600m and crashed into a market square.
Unconfirmed reports say the aircraft was overloaded by 595 pounds. The
aircraft was owned by Moscow Airways and was also flown by a Russian crew.
African Air wasn't authorized to operate this flight, and has therefore
borrowed authorization papers from Scibe Airlift."
http://aviation-safety.net/database/1996/960108-0.htm


Kinshasa, Rep. Dem. of the Congo (former Zaire) 8 January 1996. Airport of
N'Dolo. Russian airplane (Antonov) overload does not succeed to take off. It
crashes into a local market at the end of the takeoff track. Approximately
600 died.

Zairians say fatal flight unauthorized

Nearly 300 dead from Monday's crash

January 9, 1996

KINSHASA, Zaire (CNN) -- Preliminary reports indicate the plane involved in
Zaire's worst-ever aviation disaster may have been overloaded and flying
without authorization.

At least 297 people were killed Monday, when the Russian-built Antonov 32
cargo plane plowed through a downtown market just seconds after taking off
from Kinshasa's Ndolo airport.

Red Cross officials told state media Tuesday that the death toll could rise.
They said 160 other people in the crowded marketplace were injured.

The government announced two days of national mourning and grounded cargo
flights indefinitely.

Government officials Tuesday condemned what they called lax safety
standards.

Transport Minister Bernardin Munguldeaka told Radio Zaire the plane was
flying at least 600 pounds overweight. Airport authorities said that it was
carrying nearly 6,000 pounds of engine oil, wheat flour and salted fish. It
was bound for Angola and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebel group there, they said.

The head of the Zairian pilots union said that the plane was more than 35
years old.

Zairian officials said the plane was owned by African Air, one of several
private charter companies operating in Zaire. Business executives,
politicians and others who travel frequently depend on such companies
because the state-run carriers offer only sparse schedules, limited routes
and unreliable service. Zaire is one of the countries whose airplanes are
banned from serving the United States because of safety concerns.

Information Minister Masegabio Nzanzu said African Air did not have proper
authorization for Monday's flight, and the company's owner had borrowed
authorization papers from another charter company called Scibeair.

Nzanzu blamed the accident on Scibeair and said the government would demand
it pay compensation to the victims. The government itself said it would pay
for funerals, which are to begin Wednesday.

The crash was the second in less than a month involving a Zaire-based cargo
jet, and the sixth west African jet crash in recent months. More than 400
people have died in the crashes.

Kinshasa's state-run hospitals are not prepared to deal with a disaster of
this magnitude. Government mismanagement and corruption have left them
lacking in basic equipment and medicines. The city's main hospital turned
away wounded Monday because there weren't enough supplies.

The four Russian pilots survived the crash, including one who suffered minor
injuries and was hospitalized. Authorities said the three pilots who walked
away uninjured were held in protective custody overnight by police because
there was concern that angry crowds might attack them.

"The plane just piled into the market," said John Escodi, the public affairs
officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. "It was the worst possible time for
that market because it was very busy and it's located right at the end of
the runway, across the street from the runway."

On December 18, a jet operated by Zaire's Trans Service Airlift, another
charter company, crashed in Angola, killing at least 136 people.

On December 3, a Cameroon Airlines Boeing 737 on a commercial flight slammed
into swamps while trying to land at Cameroon's international airport, and 72
people died. Three Nigerian jets also have crashed in recent months, the
latest in November.

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9601/zaire_crash/01-09/



250 feared killed in Zaire crash

Plane fell into crowded market
January 8, 1996
Web posted at: 12:45 p.m EST (1745 GMT)

KINSHASA, Zaire (CNN) -- At least 250 people may have died when an African
Air cargo plane crashed into a crowded street market and, minutes later,
burst into flames.


An official from the International Red Cross said at least 217 bodies have
been found so far. Most of the victims were women and children shopping at
the market, made up of corrugated iron and wooden shacks.

Vincent Nicod of the Red Cross said the Antonov 32 cargo plane manned by a
Russian crew apparently "missed the takeoff" and crashed into the market,
located in the center of Zaire's capital.

"The plane did catch fire," Nicod said. "It's a nightmare there."

The four Russian crew members survived and were in police custody, Reuters
reported. The market is said to be located just across the street from the
end of the runway of the small domestic Ndolo airport.

Nicod said between 40 and 60 injured people were treated at the scene but
rescue efforts had been hampered by people who descended on the downtown
airport in search of their relatives.

"Many of the bodies were mutilated," a Reuters news agency correspondent
said. "The plane plowed through the market for about 330 feet before it came
to a halt. It is still belching flames and clouds of black smoke."

A fire crew from the airport rushed to the scene and tried to dampen the
flames. Smoking wreckage from the aircraft was strewn across the site.

A Zairian air force colonel at the airport told Reuters that the plane
appeared to be overloaded. Witnesses said it got only a few yards off the
ground before crashing.

Last month a Lockheed Electra passenger plane owned by a private Zairian
firm went down in Angola killing 141 people. Zaire's transport minister said
he believed it was overloaded.

The Zaire pilots association at the time complained of the poor civil
aviation regulations in the country.

With the road network in Zaire in shambles, private airline companies have
sprouted up as the most viable means of transportation in the vast Central
African country.

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9601/za...ash/index.html

RA-26222 was leased to African Air in Congo. Photo taken about 18 months
prior to the crash