Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cotonou Brunei Darussalam
Thursday, December 25, 2003 12:59 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On December 25, 2003 at 1259 UTC, Guinean registry 3X-GDO, a Boeing 727-223, operated by Union Des Transports Africain S.A (UTA), a scheduled international flight, crashed at Cotonou Airport (COO), Cotonou, Benin. Visual meteorological condition prevailed. One of the three flightcrew, four of the five cabin crew, and 136 of the 150 passengers were fatally injured. The aircraft was destroyed. There was no fire. The flight originated at Conakry, Guinea. The destination was Beirut, Lebanon with an intermediate refueling stop at Koufra, Libya.
The flight was on takeoff from runway 24, when shortly after lift off the landing gear struck a navigational aid facility, located about 200 feet beyond the end of the runway. The aircraft subsequently descended and collided on the waterfront of a beach about 2000 feet from the airport.
The investigation is being conducted by the French government Bureau D'Enquetes Et D'Analyses (BEA) on behalf of the Republic of Benin. The U.S. Accredited representative is Dennis Jones, National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, D.C.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/25/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1259 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | Cotonou |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 062114N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0022306E |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 141 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 25 |
| Injury Total All | 166 |
| Investigating Agency | Foreign |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 25 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 15 2005 2:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA Headquarters AAI-100, Washington, D.C. |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | WAS04RA010 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Non-U.S., Commercial |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 727-223 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Street Address | Quartier Almamya C. Saloum BP: 6041 |
| Operator City | Conakry |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | BN |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | COO |
| Departure City | Cotonou |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | BN |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | beirut |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | LE |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2004 4:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOND |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |