Safe Air Boeing 727 Collides With MD-82 At Malakal Airfield in South Sudan

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Summary

  • A Boeing 727 crash landed in South Sudan, hitting another aircraft that was parked on the runway.
  • While the Boeing 727 split in half, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was already written off due to its earlier accident.
  • Safe Air, whose Boeing 727 was involved in the incident, acknowledged the crash and said it activated its emergency response plan.

After crash landing at an airport in South Sudan, a Safe Air Boeing 727 collided with an African Express Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-82, which ended up stranded at the location following an incident earlier this year. The former aircraft was written off.

Boeing 727 crash landing

According to a report by Radio Tamazuj, a site covering South Sudanese news and developments, the cargo Boeing 727 aircraft, registered as 5Y-IRE, crashed while landing at Malakal Airport (MAK) in northern South Sudan.

Bol Mijok Lual, the acting general manager of MAK, told the outlet that the cargo aircraft landed and crashed at around 11:00 local time (UTC +2), with the Boeing 727 landing several meters outside of the runway, which resulted in the aircraft’s tires bursting.

As a result, the pilots lost control of the aircraft, hitting the African Express Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registered as 5Y-AXL, which was stranded outside the runway at MAK. Lual added that the Boeing 727 was damaged beyond repair since it split in half, noting that out of the six people onboard the cargo jet, one suffered injuries.

Meanwhile, Safe Air confirmed the incident on its Instagram page. The airline’s statement said that it was aware of an incident involving the aircraft, with no fatalities. Safe Air added that it has activated its emergency response plan and is cooperating with the local authorities.

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Crashing into an MD-82

Safe Air had operated the aircraft since sometime in 2019, ch-aviation fleet records showed. Boeing delivered the 727 to avianca in December 1979, with the jet being converted to a freighter when Astar Air Cargo, a US-based cargo airline, took ownership of the Boeing 727 in November 1994.

African Express Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-80

Photo: African Express Airways 

The African Express Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-82 had been at the airport since its crash in February 2024. Then, the aircraft suffered severe landing gear damage after it collapsed when the MD-82 touched down at MAK. No passengers sustained any injuries during the ordeal, as reported by Radio Tamazuj.

Ch-aviation data showed that the MD-82, which McDonnell Douglas delivered to Alitalia in 1985, had been with the African airline since 2009. Alitalia operated the jet between 1985 and 2008 before African Express Airways took delivery of the jet in September 2009. The site showed the aircraft’s status as being written off following its initial crash in February 2024.

Related


African McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Suffers Severe Damage During Landing

The aircraft’s main landing gear collapsed upon touchdown.

Left with two aircraft

Following the crash and guaranteed write-off of its Boeing 727, Safe Air was left with two Boeing 727 aircraft, 5Y-GMA and 5Y-JIB. The latter is a passenger aircraft, which had been with Safe Air since September 2018. It has been stored at Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) and is waiting to be scrapped, as ch-aviation records show.

White cargo Boeing 727 at Chicago O'Hare International Airport ORD shutterstock_1532082098

Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock

However, the site highlighted that the Kenyan carrier should take delivery of another Boeing 727, currently registered as EX-27011, carrying a Kyrgyzstani registration. Its previous operator, Kyrgyzstan-based AeroStan, operated the aircraft between November 2020 and October 2022 before it arrived at NBO.

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Why Was The Boeing 727 Discontinued?

US airlines wanted a plane they could fly from airports with shorter runways, and smaller than a Boeing 707.



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