Daallo A321 near Mogadishu on Feb 2nd 2016, explosion rips fuselage open

Last Update: August 21, 2023 / 15:23:37 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 2, 2016

Classification
Accident

Flight number
D3-159

Aircraft Registration
SX-BHS

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

A Daallo Airlines Airbus A321-100, registration SX-BHS performing flight D3-159 from Mogadishu (Somalia) to Djibouti (Djibouti) with 74 passengers and 7 crew, was climbing out of Mogadishu about 5 minutes into the flight when an explosion was heard. The crew stopped the climb and returned the aircraft to Mogadishu for a safe landing about 20 minutes after departure. A large hole was seen at the right hand side of the fuselage above the wing. Three occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries. One passenger was missing after landing, the body was recovered near Balad about 21nm northnortheast of Mogadishu.

The airline confirmed an explosion on board, the cause is under investigation, an oxygen bottle is being suspected. There were two injuries, one of them serious.

Somalia's Ministry of Transport reported a fire on board of the aircraft, the fire was put out. The damage to the aircraft is being assessed.

Somalia's Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority (SCAMA) reported in the evening, that the aircraft with 81 people on board was climbing through FL100 out of Mogadishu when the crew reported a sudden fault requiring an immediate return to Mogadishu. There were three injuries on board of the aircraft. SCAMA also stated (translated with the help of a Somali reader), that after landing on board of the aircraft all people were alive, following a formal review of the passenger manifest by the airline it was discovered however that one person was missing.

Passengers report at least one person was blown out of the aircraft.

One passenger reported he saw the explosion occur inside the aircraft a couple of seat rows ahead of him followed by an air rush and sudden drop of cabin pressure, the seat belt held him in his seat. He saw two injured people around him, one an elderly man from Finland and another one being a young Italian. The elderly man was severly burned.

Local residents at Balad (Somalia), located about 21nm northnortheast of Mogadishu Airport, reported they saw a severly burnt body fall off an unidentified aircraft.

On Feb 3rd 2016 Somalia's Air Accident Investigation Authority (SAAIA) told The Aviation Herald, that one passenger was unaccounted for and missing after the aircraft landed. The body of the missing person was subsequently found near Balad Town, about 30km north of Mogadishu. The body was taken to Mogadishu in the night of Feb 2nd/3rd.

On Feb 6th 2016 Somalia's Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation announced, that a bomb had been planted on board of the aircraft with the intention to bring the aircraft and its occupants down.

On Feb 10th 2016 the French BEA reported based on notification by Somali Authorities, that the aircraft was climbing through about 12,000 feet cleared to climb to FL300 when the crew reported pressurization problems, however, did not declare emergency. The aircraft returned to Mogadishu for a priority landing, on approach the crew requested medical assistance and advised a medical unit should be placed on stand by. One person was suspected to have been sucked out of the aircraft. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, Somalia's Air Accident Investigation Authority (SAAIA) rated the occurrence an accident and is investigating.

The French BEA published the final report released by Somalia's Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch in July 2023 concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

The accident was caused by the explosion of a laptop bomb device carried by a passenger on board.

The Somali AAIB analysed:

Crew handling of the situation

Immediately after the explosion, the Captain took control of the aircraft. The flight crew followed the ECAM messages and applied the adequate actions provided by the airline SOPs. The CVR content shows that the flight crew remained professional, that they reassured the cabin crew and adopted an adequate flight path to perform a safe landing.

CRM

The task sharing between the Captain and the First Officer were in accordance with the expected actions. The communications between the Captain and the first officer were professional. This contributed to a safe conduct of the flight and a safe landing.

Origin of the event

The actors of the terror attack were familiar with the airport and had a good planning and execution of the attack.

The AAIB summarized the captain's report:

“Departure has taken place with a delay of 20 minutes. During climb when we were passing 10,800ft we experienced a rapid decompression –confirmed by ECAM- together with a sound like an explosion, followed by a draft of air and smoke which was felt in the cockpit. We have requested an emergency return to the departure airport. We have followed the company’s SOP and landed normally and safely.”

The AAIB summarized the sequence of events:

On February 2nd 2016, flight DAO159, radio callsign Daallo 159, an Airbus A321 registered SX-BHS, is scheduled to perform a scheduled passenger flight from Mogadishu (Somalia) to Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti).

The aircraft has been wet leased by Daallo Airlines (national carrier of the Republic of Djibouti) from Hermes Airlines (Greece).

At 08 h 34 min 19, DAO 159 is cleared for take-off runway 05, wind 090°/17kt, and right turn after departure. The first officer is Pilot Flying (PF), the captain is Pilot Monitoring (PM).

At 08 h 39 min 39, the ATC requests the flight crew to provide the estimated times at SALUL, ALNAB and LUTAR2. The flight crew answers “SALUL 0904, ALNAB 0935 and LUTAR 0951”. The flight is then cleared to climb initially to FL 300. The flight crew reads back the clearance and informs the ATC that they are passing through 9 000 ft. The aircraft crosses 10 000 ft at 08 h 40 min 47.

At 08 h 41 min 03, passing 10 400 ft, the sound of an explosion is heard on the CVR, followed by a cavalry charge warning related to the AP disconnection. At that moment, the recorded indicated airspeed is 261 kt and the recorded magnetic heading is 359.6°. The recorded latitude and longitude are 02°14’08.4” N and 45°17’06.3” E. Immediately after the sound of the explosion, the Captain says “I have control”. The F/O replies “you have control”. The Captain immediately applies nose down inputs and left turn orders. The aircraft starts to descend.

At 8 h 41 min 08 s, a Master Warning and a CAB PR EXCESS CAB ALT message3
are triggered on the ECAM.

At 08 h 41 min 14, the Captain instructs the F/O “read this”. The F/O lists the following items “cabin pressure, mask use, descent initiate”.

At 08 h 41 min 37, the Captain instructs the F/O to ask the ATC clearance to perform an emergency return to Mogadishu. The F/O complies. The request is approved by the ATC. Following the ATC request, the F/O replies that they are 17 NM out and passing through FL 100 descending. The ATC asks the flight crew to report on final runway 05.

At 08 h 42 min 32, a flight attendant requests permission to enter the cockpit, tells the flight crew about a stroke and asks if it is not dangerous. The captain replies that they are going back now and says it is not dangerous. Upon the flight attendant’s request about what to announce the passengers, the captain tells her to inform the passengers that they are flying back to Mogadishu. He tells her that it is not dangerous and that they are going to land in 15 minutes.

At 08 h 43 min 03, the F/O says that he goes ahead with the ECAM and says “cabin pressure, safety, valve ... open” then “keep differential pressure below zero… 0,4 so below zero checked”. The crew then prepares for the arrival.

At 8 h 43 min 09 s, A/P2 is re-engaged in CLIMB/NAVIGATION modes.

At 08 h 44 min 22, the Captain calls the ATC and says that they are inbound MOBUDU, estimating MOBUDU in two minutes, descending to FL 50, expecting a visual approach runway 05, and informs the ATC that they are having a decompression problem. The ATC copies the information and asks the flight crew to confirm that they are approaching the right hand base 05. The Captain replies that they are arriving overhead.

At 08 h 45 min 17, the First Officer tells the Captain that the aircraft is recovering the cabin pressure as they are crossing 10 000 ft in descent. Both flight crew members talk about a possible window shield broken in the cabin.

At 8 h 45 min 35 s, Cabin Pressure Warning is recorded off. The aircraft altitude is 8100 ft; In the cabin, the flight attendant repeatedly asks the passengers to seat down.

At 08 h 47 min 04, the flight attendant again requests to enter the cabin. She tells the flight crew that one window is broken and asks if it is dangerous. The captain replies that they will be on ground in 5-6 minutes.

At 8 h 53 min, the aircraft safely lands at Mogadishu airport in full configuration with a landing weight of about 69.4 t. The vertical acceleration at touchdown is about 1.5 g.

As a consequence of the explosion the passenger seated at 16F was ejected from the aircraft and was found dead on the ground in the vicinity of the airport. Three other passengers seated close to seat 16F were injured.

The origin of the explosion was a terror attack. The passenger seated at 16F triggered a blast device from a laptop that he carried on him.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 2, 2016

Classification
Accident

Flight number
D3-159

Aircraft Registration
SX-BHS

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

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