Night Approach Accident at Douala Airport (TJ-CBE)

Incident Overview During a night approach to Douala Airport, the crew received clearance to land on runway 30 at a distance of 3.5 nautical miles. The aircraft then initiated a slight climb, and approximately 15 seconds later, the copilot reported technical problems to air traffic control. Three seconds after that report, the aircraft rolled to the left, struck trees, and crashed into a mangrove located about 1,700 metres south of runway 30. The aircraft burst into flames upon impact. ## Casualties The accident resulted in 71 fatalities among the occupants. Three passengers and two crew members, identified as the copilot and a stewardess, were seriously injured. ## Official Findings The official investigation determined that the accident resulted from a loss of control during an attempted go-around made during the touchdown maneuver on landing, with degraded performance. Contributing factors included the detachment by structural fatigue of a blade from the first stage of the compressor on engine number 1, which led to a loss of power. Additionally, the trajectory was destabilized during landing, and the go-around procedure was executed late or slowly in an unidentified single-engine configuration, resulting in an irreversible loss of speed.