Accra - Abidjan

On April 12, 1997 at 01:50 PM, Accra - Abidjan experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-9, operated by Ghana Airways, with the event recorded near Abidjan Lagunes.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

104 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 104 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 97, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Following an uneventful flight from Accra-Kotoka Airport, the crew started the descent to Abidjan-Félix Houphouët-Boigny Airport in poor weather conditions. Due to heavy rain falls, the horizontal visibility did not exceed 2 km and on final, the captain decided to initiate a go-around procedure. Few minutes later, the crew started a second approach to runway 21, established on the ILS but continued the approach above the glide. This caused the aircraft to land 900 metres past the runway threshold. On a wet runway surface, the aircraft skidded and veered off runway to the left. While contacting soft ground, the aircraft lost its undercarriage and came to rest 1,800 metres past the runway threshold. All 104 occupants were evacuated, among them three passengers were slightly injured. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were poor with heavy rain falls and wind from 110 gusting at 25 knots.

Aircraft reference details include registration 9G-ACM, MSN 47755, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 5.6756°, -4.5697°.