Luxembourg – Port Harcourt – Johannesburg

On November 27, 2001 at 01:56 AM, Luxembourg – Port Harcourt – Johannesburg experienced a crash involving Boeing 747-200, operated by MK Airlines, with the event recorded near Port Harcourt Rivers.

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

13 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 12 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 7.7%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 9, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft departed Luxembourg-Findel Airport on a cargo flight to Johannesburg with an intermediate stop in Port Harcourt, carrying nine passengers, four crew members and a load consisting of almost 60 tons of electronics. On a night approach to Port Harcourt Airport, the copilot who was the pilot-in-command failed to comply with the company published procedures and carried a non-standard autopilot approach, tracking a localizer radial inbound and descending using the vertical speed mode as reference. On short final, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when the aircraft struck the ground 700 metres short of runway. The undercarriage was torn off and the aircraft slid for few dozen metres before coming to rest with its front section that broke away, bursting into flames. A crew member was killed, seven occupants were injured and five escaped uninjured. The aircraft was partially destroyed by fire.

Aircraft reference details include registration 9G-MKI, MSN 22063, year of manufacture 1980.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 4.8317°, 7.0118°.