Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 was an air accident that occurred on 3 December 1995. The

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

, registration TJ-CBE, crashed after it lost control near

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. On its second approach to

Douala International Airport MD-Douala International Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport international MD-Douala) is an international airport located in Douala, the largest city in Cameroon and the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. With its 4 terminals and an averag ...

power was lost to one engine. The accident killed 71 passengers and crew and five people were injured but survived.

Accident

Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 took off from

Cadjehoun Airport Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport is an airport in the Cadjehoun neighborhood of Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, in West Africa. The airport is the largest in the country, and as such, is the primary entry point into the country by air, with fligh ...

Cotonou Cotonou (; fon, Kútɔ̀nú) is a city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The ci ...

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, on a flight to Douala International Airport. The Boeing 737-200 had 71 passengers and five crew on board and after a one-hour flight was ready to land at Douala International Airport, but as the landing gear was lowered the nose gear light showed that it was not down. The pilots called

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

saying that they had landing gear problems and the crew elected to abort the approach. Some minutes later they tried a second approach but the pilots did not see that the engine two was operating at high power while the No. 1 engine was not developing power. Then the aircraft went into a steep dive and crashed short of the runway in a

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...

. The aircraft burst into flames, killing 71 passengers and crew. Five people survived the accident.

Cause

The accident report determined the cause of the loss of control and the loss of power to engine No. 1 to be the following:

The probable cause of the accident is a loss of control during a go-around attempt made during a maneuver to reach the runway with degraded performance Seriously contributing to this: # The detachment by structural fatigue of a first stage compressor blade of the No. 1 engine which resulted in a loss of power and destabilization of the trajectory when landing # The late or slow execution of the go-around procedure with an unidentified single-engine configuration, leading to irreversible loss of speed. — Accident report

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1995 1995 in Cameroon Aviation accidents and incidents in 1995 Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original Aviation accidents and incidents in Cameroon Cameroon Airlines accidents and incidents December 1995 events in Africa 1995 disasters in Cameroon