Congo DH8D at Lubumbashi on Aug 14th 2021, aircraft struck motorcyclist down on landing

Last Update: September 4, 2024 / 14:30:36 GMT/Zulu time

Bookmark this article

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 14, 2021

Classification
Accident

Airline
Congo Airways

Departure
Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Destination
Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Aircraft Registration
9S-AAN

Aircraft Type
De Havilland Dash 8 (400)

ICAO Type Designator
DH8D

A Congo Airways de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration 9S-AAN performing a flight from Mbuji-Mayi to Lubumbashi (DR Congo) with 18 passengers and 5 crew, landed on Lubumbashi's runway at 19:15L (17:15Z) but struck a motorcyclist who was crossing the runway. The aircraft received damage to its tyres, the motorcycle was totalled, the motorcyclist received serious injuries and was taken to a hospital.

DR Congo's Transport Ministry reported the aircraft 9S-AAN (Dash 8) arriving from Mbuji Mayi hit a motorcyclist in its landing phase to Lubumbashi causing substantial damage to the aircraft. The motorcyclist was crossing the runway. An investigation by DRC's BEA has been opened.

The ministry as well as most local media (who quoted the ministry only) did not report on the fate of the driver of the motorcycle.

The Aviation Herald received information that the biker did survive the accident with serious injuries (upper leg fractures) and was taken to a hospital.

Some time in the past the BPEA of DR Congo released their final report in French only (editorial note: to serve the purpose of global prevention of the repeat of causes leading to an occurrence an additional timely release of all occurrence reports in the only world spanning aviation language English would be necessary, a French only release does not achieve this purpose as set by ICAO annex 13 and just forces many aviators to waste much more time and effort each in trying to understand the circumstances leading to the occurrence. Aviators operating internationally are required to read/speak English besides their local language, investigators need to be able to read/write/speak English to communicate with their counterparts all around the globe).

The report concludes the probable cause of the accident was:

Lack of coordination between Air Traffic Control and the Guard Soldiers stationed around the runway.

The BPEA reported the motor bike belonged to the military guard protecting the airport, the driver belonged to the guard. The driver survived the accident with serious injuries.

The BPEA summarized the sequence of events:

The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 07, the crew acknowledged. The runway was clear of any obstacles at that time. The aircraft touched down at 17:12 UTC. A few seconds later the captain informed tower they had just hit a military bike and requested emergency services to attend. Emergency services found debris on the runway, only during a search the bike as well as the driver were found on the shoulder of the runway.

The BPEA analysed that the existance of post guards increases the likelihood of people trespassing the runway. In terms of risk analysis this hazard results in collisions with humans during takeoffs and landing especially at night. The airport had already initiated measures to mitigate that risk.

The military motorcyclist was riding on the runway and not the dirt road as he claimed - the distance between the road he claimed to have been on and the point of collision was 51 meters, 26 meters of that being grass with the road lower than the runway. Comrades of the motorcyclist reported they had recovered the man from about 10 meters from the point of collision and relocated the man off the runway.

All available METARs for Aug 14th:
FZQA 141400Z 10016KT CAVOK SQ 27/11 Q1019 NOSIG=
FZQA 141300Z 14025KT CAVOK 27/12 Q1020 NOSIG=
FZQA 141100Z 10015KT CAVOK 26/12 Q1022 NOSIG=
FZQA 141000Z 09025KT CAVOK SQ 24/12 Q1022 NOSIG=