Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Adwa Ethiopia
Sunday, August 29, 1999 14:00 GMT

On August 29, 1999, following a 1330 coordinated universal time (UTC) position report, Asmera, Eritrea, air traffic control (ATC) reported loss of contact with a Corporate Jets, Inc. Learjet 35A, registration N350JF. The airplane was later found crashed near Adwa, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Defense Force reported a shoot-down of an aircraft in the vicinity. The operator was based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the airplane was owned by Wilmington Trust Company of Delaware. The 2-person flightcrew was provided by ExecuJet, of Lanseria, South Africa. Both pilots were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. There were no passengers. An IFR flight plan was filed under international civil aviation organization (ICAO) regulations from Luxor, Egypt, to Nairobi, Kenya. The final leg was to be from Nairobi to ExecuJet's maintenance facility at Lanseria. Eritrean ATC reported a loss of contact with the flight after it reported over Asmera, at FL 450, at 1330 UTC, estimating Assab, at 1406, then Parim, at 1414, en route to Djibouti. The provider of the flightcrews, which was also the destination maintenance facility in South Africa, stated that Ethiopia had posted a warning that flights directly from Eritrea over Ethiopia were prohibited. The flight plan through Djibouti, avoided an Eritrean/Ethiopian border crossing. Ethiopia claimed that it shot-down an aircraft near Adwa, Ethiopia, (approximately 100 miles south of Asmera, Eritrea), on August 29, and later evidence found that the missing Learjet 35A was the shot-down aircraft and both pilots' bodies were recovered at the crash site. ICAO, Montreal authorities state that an initial flight plan was on file from Luxor to Nairobi, via Asmera, then directly over Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, on Upper Golf 650 airway, but because of the border-crossing prohibition a second flight plan was filed via Djibouti, as stated in the en route position report. The flightcrew was comprised of two pilots employed by ExecuJet. The pilot, a British citizen, held a U.S. Airline Transport Pilot rating, as well as United Kingdom and South African ATP licenses. His total flight time was 7,690 hours, including 4,007 hours in jet aircraft. The first officer, a Swedish citizen, also held a U.S. ATP rating. His total flight time was 8,615 hours, including about 4,500 hours in executive jets. The airplane was manufactured by Learjet in 1979, as serial no. 02199. The airframe accumulated over 5,434 flight hours and 3,657 landings. Thomas R. Conroy, NTSB, AS-20, is the U.S. Accredited Representative, (202) 314-6314/ fax -6329. Inquiries to Eritrean and Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authorities have been made by the U.S. Accredited Representative via the U.S. Department of State, regarding the collection of evidence, including air traffic control tapes, and initiation of an investigation into the airplane crash. The Eritrean Ministry of Transport and Communications states that they have impounded relevant ATC materials. Inquiries have also been made to Eritrean authorities for further information by the ATC division, ICAO, Montreal. In accordance with ICAO, Annex 13, for the purposes of formation of an investigation, Ethiopia is the Country of Occurrence.

Not Yet Reported