Kisangani – Kinshasa

On April 4, 2011 at 01:56 PM, Kisangani – Kinshasa experienced a crash involving Canadair RegionalJet CRJ-100, operated by Georgian Airways - Airzena Georgian Airlines, with the event recorded near Kinshasa-N'Djili Kinshasa City Province.

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

33 people were known to be on board, 32 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 97.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 29, passenger fatalities: 28, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. On final approach to Kinshasa-N'Djili Airport, the crew encountered very poor weather conditions and decided to make a go around. After a climb process of 12 seconds, the aircraft nosed down and at a speed of 180 knots, hit the ground 170 meters to the left of the displaced threshold of runway 24. The aircraft slid for 400 meters before coming to rest in flames upside down. Three passengers were seriously injured and evacuated but of them died from their injuries few hours later. Finally, only one passenger survived the accident. Aircraft was performing a special flight from Kisangani to Kinshasa on behalf of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The only survivor reported that the aircraft suddenly plunged into the earth while on final approach. At the time of the accident, weather conditions were marginal with storm activity, heavy rain showers, scattered at 2,200 feet and cumulonimbus at 1,500 feet.

Aircraft reference details include registration 4L-GAE, MSN 7070, year of manufacture 1995.