Background
The Antonov 2 aircraft was assigned to spray birds at the White Nile Scheme. It arrived at Um-galala airstrip five days before the accident date and conducted seven spraying flights in the previous five days. Spraying operations started daily at about 18:30 local time and lasted approximately 50 minutes. On the day of the accident, the aircraft began its flight ten minutes before sunset to proceed to the assigned bird location for spraying chemicals.
Flight and Accident
The captain positioned the airstrip lights himself at the edges of the strip, placing seven lamps on the left side and three on the right side. The red lamp, which was normally placed at the beginning of the airstrip, was not positioned that day due to a flat battery. At about 15:45 UTC, the aircraft took off for the bird-spraying mission. The night was dark with no moonlight. After takeoff, the technician switched on all lamps except the red one, awaiting the aircraft's return.
Fifty minutes after takeoff, the aircraft was seen approaching the airstrip. It flew over the strip at a height of about 25 meters and made a left turn. The aircraft then made another approach, coming over the left row of lamps at a height of about 10 meters, according to the technician, and executed a sharp left turn. At that moment, the aircraft descended and crashed east of the airstrip. A fire erupted. The pilot died of his injuries.
Although the airplane was formally registered as ST-AUS in July 2009, it still carried its previous Polish registration mark SP-WMH.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause stated: "The captain, as he was not rated for instrument flying, was disoriented by the absence of the red lamp which was used to indicate the beginning and center line of the airstrip in addition to remains of birds on windscreen which decreased the pilot vision. The presence of some people from the village within the East side of airstrip causing illusion of vision to the pilot was considered a contributory factor to this accident."