4th of March 2018, Loss of control on ground, Blog #693
- V2Aviation
- Mar 3
- 2 min read
A Boeing 737-300F was operating a cargo flight between Kinshasa-N'Djili Airport (FIH/FZAA) and Lubumbashi International Airport (FBM/FZQA) both in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On board a flight crew of three, an airline mechanic, a loadmaster and an airline employee returning from training.
The Pilot in Command for the flight was occupying the right-hand seat, while the left seat was occupied by a Commander under training, who was on his fifth line training flight. A safety pilot was in the observer seat.
After an uneventful flight ATC cleared the flight for an ILS approach to runway 07 at Lubumbashi. During the briefing for the landing, the Auto Brake selector was set to AUTO BRAKE 2. The weather was good with a calm wind.
The aircraft touched down normally in the touchdown zone and deceleration was normal. When the speed was reduced to approximately 80 knots the aircraft started to pull to the left, leaving the runway center line. The crew attempted to correct the deviation by applying manual braking. The aircraft continued to skid, and despite the crew's efforts, it left the paved surface of the runway, entering soft ground with the nose landing gear and the left-hand main landing gear. The nose landing gear failed under the forces exerted when entering the soft ground, while the left main gear sunk into the soft ground. Resulting in the left-hand engine nacelle coming into contact with the ground.
After coming to a stop the aircraft was shut down by the crew while firefighters were alerted by ATC, they reported that there was no fuel leak and the occupants did not sustain any injuries.
Damage to the aircraft was extensive;
Forward lower fuselage damaged between station 294.5 and station 360
Skin, stringers and frames damaged
Forward lower fuselage damaged between station 238.8 and station 294.5
Nose landing gear torn from its mounts
Nose landing gear doors were torn off the fuselage
An investigation into the accident was launched by the Bureau Permanent d’Enquêtes d’Accidents /Incidents d’Aviation (BPEA), part of the Ministere des Transports et Communications in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On the 28th of June 2019, the BPEA published their report in which they listed the following contributing factors;
The reduction in training hours in the simulator for economic reasons for someone who has never performed the duties of having control of the aircraft on the ground.
The shoulders of the Lubumbashi (Luano) runway do not have the same characteristics with regard to surface strength
They concluded that the cause of the deviation from the runway centre line was rudder inputs shortly before the loss of aerodynamic effectiveness of the rudder. Click on the .pdf below to get access to the report as issued by the BPEA (in French);
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