What happened
A scheduled commercial flight traveling from Kinshasa-N'Djili Airport to Brussels was operating with 188 passengers and 12 crew members when an inflight emergency occurred. While the aircraft was maintaining a cruising altitude of 25,000 feet over Gabon, the flight crew notified Air Traffic Control regarding a failure of the third engine. Following this report, the flight was authorized to perform an emergency return to Kinshasa.
During the landing sequence at Kinshasa-N'Djili Airport, the aircraft experienced a significant malfunction upon contact with the runway. The impact caused all tires to burst, resulting in the aircraft skidding along the runway surface before finally coming to a stop. Despite the severity of the excursion, all 200 occupants were able to evacuate the aircraft without injury. The aircraft sustained damage that rendered it a total loss.
Findings
- The primary issue was the failure of engine number 3 during the cruise phase of the flight.
- The landing was complicated by the simultaneous bursting of all tires upon touchdown, which led to the loss of directional control on the runway.