On 4 July 2002 a Boeing 707-123B operated by Prestige Airlines and owned by New Gomair, crashed during an

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

at Bangui Airport. 28 people on board were killed and two survived. The flight was bound to Brazzaville, but the crew decided to divert to

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

when the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

had not retracted.

Background

The international flight was carrying passengers and a load of onions and garlic from Chad to the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. There were 17 Chadian passengers on board. The Boeing belonged to a small airline New Gomair, owned by local businessmen, but was chartered by Prestige Airlines at the time of the accident.

Crash

On final approach to Bangui, the aircraft descended until it contacted the ground. The crash occurred in clear weather at about 11:15 a.m. in the Guitangola neighborhood, two miles short of the Bangui Airport's

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

. The aircraft exploded upon touchdown, scattering wreckage and reportedly causing the roof of an empty house to collapse. The two survivors were engineer Laurent Tabako and a woman from Chad, both were admitted to a hospital. According to Tabako, the

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

stopped before landing and the crew may have dumped too much fuel before an emergency landing. The witnesses reportedly did not hear the usual engine noise during the crash and saw no flames when the aircraft disintegrated. The aircraft's flight recorder and

voice recorder A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark of the company of the same ...

were recovered and an investigation was launched by the government of the Central African Republic.

References

{{coord missing, Central African Republic 2002 in the Central African Republic Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2002 2002 disasters in Africa Aviation accidents and incidents in the Central African Republic History of Bangui July 2002 events in Africa