Created Monday, Feb 10th 2025 15:48Z, last updated Wednesday, Mar 19th 2025 16:16Z
An Air Urga Antonov AN-26 on behalf of United Nations, registration UR-ELB performing a flight from Bangui to Ndele (Central African Republic) with 6 crew, landed on Ndele's runway 17 but veered off the runway. The aircraft came to a stop with a collapsed left main gear. Three crew received injuries. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.
On Feb 14th 2025 the airline reported:
URGA Airline confirms that on February 10, 2025 its aircraft An-26B-100 with tail number UR-ELB was involved into accident during landing at N'dele aerodrome (CAR).
The aircraft was on a routine cargo flight from Bangui (CAR) to N'dele (CAR), with only the crew aboard. This route is a standard operation for our crew, and no technical issues or malfunctions were reported with the aircraft systems or operation.
Before landing, the crew saw several artificially created mounds of soil and gravel in the approach path for RW17, which, as later became known, were 2 meters high.
The crew was not informed about these mounds before the flight or immediately before the landing approach maneuver.
The crew's actions to avoid a collision with the artificial obstacle, under the time constraints, were not sufficient to fully avoid contact with the mound.
The aircraft hit one of the mounds with the left main landing gear which caused damage to the latter. The landing on the runway was completed as normal, but during the landing roll, the aircraft skidded toward the damaged landing gear.
The crew made every effort to keep the aircraft aligned with the runway, but the damage to the landing gear was so severe that it became impossible to maintain a straight path that resulted in the runway excursion followed by a significant structural damage to the aircraft.
All crew members are alive. The aviation authorities are currently investigating the accident.
On Mar 14th 2025 Ukraine's NBAAI reported the aircraft collided with an artificial obstacle in the runway structure, a mound of soil, during the approach to runway 17. The left main gear was destroyed as result of the impact, the aircraft subsequently veered off the runway. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, 3 of the 6 crew received injuries and were hospitalized.
The aircraft seen off the runway:
