South Sudan CAA grounds An-26s after incident

The South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (SSCAA) has grounded all privately-owned An-26s in South Sudan until further notice after one of the type lost a propeller near Bor, midflight between Juba and Paloich in the oil-rich northeast on May 20, 2021. This was revealed in a letter posted online by SSCAA Chief Executive Officer John David Dada to the manager of Juba International Airport, which states the decision was taken at a meeting on May 20 between the Ministry of Transport and the SSCAA “following the repeated inconveniences caused by own private companies operating An-26 aircraft in South Sudan”. Only United Nations Mission (UNMISS)/United Nations Humanitarian Air Service operations are exempted from the grounding order, the SSCAA said. An An-26, UR-UZI (msn 87307108), operated for UNMISS by Constanta Airlines (UZA, Zaporizhzhia) landed at Juba at 1637L (1437Z) on May 20 from the direction of Tali, which is nowhere near Bor, FlightRadar24 ADS-B data revealed. It was the only An-26 visible in South Sudan airspace via their transponder throughout the day and the only one of the type on the ground at Juba on May 21 reflecting on Flightradar24 ADS-B data. No An-26 departures or arrivals from/to Juba were reflected on May 20. The SSCAA was not reachable for comment. The Aviation Herald reported the ill-fated unidentified aircraft was en-route near Bor when the left-hand propeller detached at around 1230Z and fell to the ground about 200m from the highway connecting Bor and Juba. Workers on the ground witnessed the incident. No one was injured. Juba Airport reported an Antonov Design Bureau cargo aircraft, that had departed earlier from Juba to Paloich, had returned to Juba safely with just one propeller. Eye Radio Juba posted photographs showing workers on the ground holding the propeller, with one blade buckled from where it had impacted the ground. Another photograph showed the parked aircraft with the missing propeller, but the registration number was not visible. ch-aviation research revealed several safety incidents involving An-26s in South Sudan in recent years.

• On August 22, 2020, a South West Aviation (Juba) An-26 freighter, EX-126 (msn 11508) on a charter flight from Juba to Wau crashed shortly after departure, killing eight people on board.

   

• On June 5, 2020, a South Sudan Supreme Airlines (Juba) An-26 flight from Juba to Renk suffered a runway excursion when a tyre burst on landing at Renk due to poor runway conditions. No injuries were reported.

   

• On August 28, 2017, a CoCo Aviation (Juba) An-26 flight on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), registration EK-26006, burned down after it over-ran on landing at Maban airstrip. The crew managed to escape.

   

• On March 20, 2017, another An-26 of South Supreme Airlines S9-TLZ was destroyed by fire after colliding with a truck on landing at Wau Airport.