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Two aircrafts departed from the runway at the same airport in a day filled with intense airfield incidents.
On the morning of November 28th, a flight operated by United Air Zanzibar departed from the archipelago of Zanzibar, located near the coast of Tanzania. The plane was carrying a total of 30 passengers and three crew members.
As the aircraft approached its destination, Kikoboga Airstrip, The Aviation Herald stated that the crew encountered issues with the landing gear.
Kikoboga is located in Mikumi National Park, which is one of the biggest parks in Tanzania.
The plane managed to land, but the maneuver resulted in the main landing gear collapsing, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway. According to reports, it sustained significant damage and came to a halt on its nose gear, underneath the fuselage, and both wings.
There were no reported injuries. A video circulating on social media displays the aftermath of the collision.
Shortly after, Kikoboga experienced another intense event.
A plane from Sindbard Air, specifically an Embraer model, was departing from Kikoboga and heading towards Zanzibar when its nose gear collapsed while accelerating. The impact caused its right wing to collide with a building before the plane eventually stopped. Similar to the previous flight, this one was also carrying 30 passengers and three crew members, but thankfully no injuries were reported.
I have reached out to Tanzania National Parks and the Ministry of Transport for additional details.
“The pilots and officials of the airstrip worked diligently together to ensure the safety of all passengers on board,” stated Catherine Mbena, senior conservation officer for corporate communications at Tanzania National Parks. This statement was shared with Xinhua News Agency.
In response to the latest update on The Aviation Herald, a reader commented: “What are the chances of two identical model planes experiencing landing gear problems at the same airport on the same day?”
In the previous month, during the UK’s Storm Babet, a Tui aircraft veered off the runway and onto the grass at Leeds Bradford airport due to severe weather conditions including heavy rain and wind.
Source: independent.co.uk
