What happened
On the afternoon of June 10, an Airbus A310, registration ST-ATN, was operating a flight from Damascus to Khartoum with 203 passengers and 11 crew members. Earlier in the day, the aircraft had diverted to Port Sudan due to poor weather conditions. After a period of ground time for refueling, the flight resumed its journey toward Khartoum.
During the approach to runway 36 at Khartoum, the pilot received information regarding a wet runway surface and wind speeds of 320 degrees at 7 knots. The aircraft landed smoothly at approximately 17:20 UTC, reaching a point within 900 meters of the runway threshold. Upon touchdown, the pilot engaged the thrust reversers. However, the pilot reported difficulty maintaining the aircraft on the centerline immediately after setting the thrust levers to reverse.
As the aircraft continued down the runway, the crew was unable to decelerate the plane sufficiently. The Airbus A310 failed to stop before the end of the runway, overrunning the threshold and traveling 215 meters past the runway end. Following the overrun, a fire ignited on the right side of the aircraft. Because the right-side slides failed to deploy, the occupants were forced to evacuate via the front left slide. The accident resulted in 30 fatalities, consisting of 29 passengers and one cabin crew member.
Findings
- The aircraft was operating with a known defect involving the number one engine thrust reverser, which was deactivated in accordance with the Minimum Equipment List (MEL).
- The runway surface was reported as wet at the time of landing.
- The pilot was unable to maintain the aircraft centerline after engaging the thrust reversers, leading to the longitudinal overrun.