Sudan Airways Flight 2241 was a scheduled cargo flight from

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

operated by a Boeing 707-330C. On 21 October 2009, the cargo plane's No. 4 engine cowling separated during lift off, and in an attempt to turn the plane around, it stalled and crashed north of the airport. All six occupants were killed.

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

707-330C ST-AKW. The aircraft was s/n 20112, line number 788. The aircraft first flew on 1 May 1968 and was delivered to

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

on 17 February 1969 where it was registered D-ABUJ. From 23 March 1977, it was leased to

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...

until it was sold to the

on 5 May 1981. The aircraft was re-registered A6-DPA. On 26 May 1986, the aircraft was sold to the

Sudanese Government The Government of Sudan is the federal provisional government created by the Constitution of Sudan having executive, parliamentary, and the judicial branches. Previously, a ''president'' was head of state, head of government, and commander-in ...

and re-registered ST-AKW. On 26 October 1986, it was sold to Nile Safaris Aviation, serving until sold to Trans Arabian Air Transport on 28 May 1992. The final change of ownership was on 16 August 1994 when it was sold to Azza Transport.

Crew

Three flight crew members, a ground engineer, and two loadmasters were aboard the flight: The captain was 61-year-old Mohamed el-Halfawi. He had previously worked for Sudan Airways, and had 19,943 flight hours, but his experience on the Boeing 707 was not stated. 34-year-old First Officer Aladdin Moharam had 6,649 flight hours, including 5,011 hours on the Boeing 707. The flight engineer, 53-year-old Mohamed el-Fateh Mohyeddine, had 7,324 flight hours, all of which were on the Boeing 707. Also on-board were 55-year-old ground engineer Elsawi Hamed, and loadmasters Makki Abdul-Aziz & Abu-Bakr Hassan.

Accident

At 15:30

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(11:30

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) on 21 October 2009, a Boeing 707-320 of Azza Transport crashed from the end of runway 30 of Sharjah International Airport. The flight was destined for Khartoum International Airport and had just taken off at the time of the accident. The aircraft was carrying a cargo of air conditioning units, car parts, computers and tools. A piece of the aircraft fell off shortly after it became airborne, which was later identified as a part of a cowling from engine No. 4. The aircraft was totally destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire which killed all six crew on board.

Investigation

Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi stated that the

General Civil Aviation Authority The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA, ) is the civil aviation authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its head office is in Al Rawdah, Abu Dhabi. It was established in 1996 by Federal Cabinet Decree (Law 4) to regulate Civil Aviation ...

(GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates launched an investigation into the crash. It is reported that one area of inquiry is the engines. The

Cockpit Voice Recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

and

Flight Data Recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

were recovered and sent to the United Kingdom for analysis. In February 2010, it was reported that both recorders were not functioning, and no data was recovered from them. In January 2011, the GCAA released an interim report. An engine cowling fell away from the No. 4 engine shortly after takeoff. The final report stated the cause of the accident was the aircraft exceeding the maximum bank angle. This caused a stall and loss of control that was not recoverable. The crew were responding to a perceived power loss of engine No. 4, although their response was inappropriate. The No. 4 engine's core cowls departed from the engine, and this led to the separation of the Engine Pressure Ratio flex line.

Consequences

Azza Transport was banned from operating in the United Arab Emirates while the investigation into the accident took place. It ceased operations a few months after the initiation of the investigation.

References

External links

Interim ReportArchive

Final ReportVideo of the aftermathPhoto history of ST-AKW from Airliners.net
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Arab Emirates Aviation accidents and incidents in 2009 2009 in the United Arab Emirates Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707 Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Arab Emirates Filmed deaths during aviation accidents and incidents October 2009 in Asia 2009 disasters in the United Arab Emirates