2010 Filair Let L-410 crash

Background

The aircraft was operating a round-robin domestic flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, stopping at Kiri, Bokoro, Semendwa and Bandundu. At 13:00 local time (12:00 UTC). The flight was piloted by 62-year-old Belgian-French Danny Philemotte, who was also the owner of Filair, and his first officer, 39-year-old Briton Chris Wilson. The crew also consisted of a single flight attendant. All perished in the accident.

Accident

While on final approach to Bandundu Airport, the aircraft crashed into a house approximately 1kilometer (1 km) short of the runway. According to most sources, no one was injured on the ground, but 19 people were killed instantaneously, with two survivors being taken to hospital, one of whom later died from their injuries. Of the 21 people on board, only one, a passenger, survived. Most of the dead were Congolese.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a 1991-built Let L-410 Turbolet, with Congolese registration 9Q-CCN, construction number 912608. It normally carries up to 19 passengers. The aircraft involved was previously registered ES-LLB, and was operated by Airest, an Estonian airline, until 2007. It was stored until Filair bought it in 2009.

Investigation

The Congolese Ministry of Transport opened an investigation into the accident. However, the aircraft was later determined to have 150 l of fuel remaining in its fuel tanks.

The only survivor of the crash stated to the investigators that a crocodile smuggled in a duffel bag by one of the passengers had escaped shortly before landing, sparking panic among the passengers. The flight attendant rushed towards the cockpit, followed by all passengers, and the resulting shift in the aircraft's centre of gravity led to an irrecoverable loss of control. The crocodile reportedly survived the crash, only to be killed with a machete by authorities.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigator stated that the claim was "extremely unlikely" but that they "wouldn't rule it out completely". They later stated that they were unable to draw any definitive conclusions due to not being in possession of the flight recorder data. The inquest into the death of the British first officer resulted in an open verdict, with the coroner stating that issues with obtaining black box data, and witness unreliability had only led to "vague guesses" and that further information wasn't able to be obtained.

References

References

1. (12 July 2014). "British Pilot Died When Crocodile On Plane Caused Congo Crash".
2. (21 October 2010). "Crocodile blamed for Congo air crash". NBC News.
3. (2010-08-26). "20 killed in DRC plane crash".
4. (25 August 2010). "DR Congo plane crash in Bandundu 'kills 20'". BBC News.
5. (25 August 2010). "Dix-neuf morts dans un accident d'avion dans l'ouest de la RDC". Le Soir.
6. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Let L-410UVP-E20C 9Q-CCN Bandundu Airport". [[Flight Safety Foundation]].
7. (25 August 2010). "DR Congo air crash 'kills many'". [[Al Jazeera English]].
8. "News from the World of L410". Planes.cz.
9. (25 August 2010). "Plane crashes in DRCongo, 20 dead: deputy governor". [[Agence France-Presse]].
10. (27 August 2010). "Crash de Bandundu ville, la version de Fil Air".
11. (21 October 2010). "Aircraft crashes after crocodile on board escapes and sparks panic". [[The Daily Telegraph.
12. (22 October 2010). "Escaped crocodile may have caused Congo plane crash". The Guardian.
13. (12 July 2014). "Croc On A Plane: Reptile 'May Have Caused Crash'".