A Bombardier Q400 plane belonging to Congo Airways hit the motorcyclist as it was landing on a flight from central Mbuji-Mayi to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday around 19:15 local time.
The motorcyclist had been crossing the runway at the time. He was injured and was taken to hospital with serious injuries, according to the Aviation Herald. The motorbike he was riding was destroyed in the accident.
Fortunately, the 18 passengers and five crew members who were onboard were not hurt. The aircraft was substantially damaged. Its tires were destroyed and the nose took a dive. The bike was also destroyed.
The Congo Airways is a state-owned airline that the government is keen to build up going forward. It has four Embraer jets on order – two E190-E2 and two E195-E2 – and recently signed a strategic partnership with Kenya Airways to coordinate on routes, capacity, aircraft maintenance and training.
The unfortunate aircraft was an 11-year-old DHC-8-Q400, which previously operated for Air Niugini from 2010 to 2016. It has been in the hands of Congo Airways since 2016. It is one of only two Dash 8s operated by the airline, which are complemented by two A320-200s
Investigations are ongoing “to determine the administrative and security failures at the source of unfortunate incident”, according to Head of office in the DRC Ministry of transport.
There have been similar incidents that have been regularly reported at airports in the DR Congo, involving both people and animals on the tarmac. DR Congo’s airlines are on the blacklist of carriers that are barred from flying in the European Union.
The Ministry will implement a committee to create, form and oversee a national civil aviation security commission. A full investigation of the Congo Airways crash is also underway. In a statement, the Ministry said
“In the immediate future, under the diligence of His Excellency the Prime Minister, Head of Government, the task force set up at the Ministry of Transport, Ways of Communication and Opening up, is working to launch investigations to determine the flaws administrative and security at the base of this unfortunate event, in order to establish the responsibilities.”
By Agnes Chioneso Msongelwa
