Ethiopian B738 at Ndola on Apr 4th 2021, approached airport under construction and went around from 50 feet AGL

Last Update: April 5, 2021 / 12:40:39 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 4, 2021

Classification
Incident

Airline
Ethiopian Airlines

Flight number
ET-871

Departure
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Destination
Ndola, Zambia

Aircraft Registration
ET-AQP

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration ET-AQP performing flight ET-871 from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Ndola (Zambia), was scheduled to land at Ndola's current (and old) Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (Coordinates: S12.9977 E28.6634) but joined short final for Ndola's new Copperbelt International Airport (Coordinates: S12.9624 E28.5141), that is located about 9nm westnorthwest of the current airport and is still under construction. Construction workers at the aerodrome gesticulated while the aircraft was on final approach, the crew performed a go around from about the threshold of the new runway at about 50 feet AGL and subsequently positioned to the correct airport for a safe landing.

A local pilot reported the runway has some very faint X-marks indicating the runway was still closed, the crew might have noticed the x-bars.

About 2.5 hours earlier another Ethiopian B738 landed at the airport under construction, see Incident: Ethiopian B738 at Ndola on Apr 4th 2021, landed at airport under construction.

No weather data are available for Ndola, the video however suggests the weather was clear, visibility unrestricted, with few clouds at estimated 2000 feet.

The Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport features two parallel runways, runway 10L/28R is 2515 meters/8250 feet long, runway 10R/28L 1215 meters/3980 feet long.

The Copperbelt International Airport is going to feature a runway of 3500 meters length orientation about 09/27.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 4, 2021

Classification
Incident

Airline
Ethiopian Airlines

Flight number
ET-871

Departure
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Destination
Ndola, Zambia

Aircraft Registration
ET-AQP

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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