A Congolese Antonov An-26 Cargo Plane Operated by Air Kasaï has suffered a runway excursion after landing amid strong winds at Lisala Airport.
According to simpleflying.com, the aircraft suffered significant damage to its nose and nose gear without any injury to the crew.
The cargo aircraft (registration: 9S-AFP) was operating a cargo flight from Kinsasha N’dijili Airport (FIH) to Lisala Airport (LIQ) on Wednesday and landed during a storm. As reported by The Aviation Herald, the aircraft touched down on Lisala’s gravel runway – which measures 7,200 feet long – but could not brake sufficiently amid the slippery conditions.
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Local news outlet Radio Okapi adds that the aircraft was blown off course as it was touching down, suggesting a long landing. The An-26 subsequently overran the runway by around 660 feet and ended up on a private property containing a house. Fortunately, there were no significant injuries either inside the aircraft or on the ground, but the plane itself is seen in images from the scene wearing major damage, particularly to the nose.
Carrying medical supplies
According to Radio Okapi, the plane was carrying long-lasting bed nets to be distributed as part of a malaria program. It isn’t clear if these supplies were damaged during the incident, but most of the damage appears to have been concentrated on the nose.
The airport’s runway has reportedly been in poor condition for some time now, which appears to have been a major contributor to this accident. Since it was asphalted in 1990, locals say it has not received any repairs and is essentially an accident waiting to happen.
Similar incident last year
9S-AFP was involved in a strikingly similar incident at another Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) airport around 15 months ago. In January 2022, the An-26 overshot the runway at Lodja Airport – on this occasion, it came to a stop around 30 feet from the runway end, with no injuries and no damage to the plane.
The aircraft had 30 people onboard and came off the end of Lodja’s 5,250 feet dirt runway. It was pulled back onto the runway and was able to depart without any further issues.
Air Kasaï is a DRC airline based at Kinsasha Airport – the carrier was founded in 1983 and has been banned from operating in European Union (EU) airspace due to its poor safety record. One of the airline’s An-26s (registration: 9Q-CFD) was involved in a fatal crash in 2005, killing all 13 people onboard.
