The aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A310-324, c/n 548, tail number that had its maiden flight on 23 August 1990 as F-WWCV. Equipped with a twin-PW4152 powerplant, it was delivered new to Singapore Airlines on 22 October 1990 and registered 9V-STU. Re-registered VT-EVF, it was delivered to Air India on 10 March 2001. The aircraft was finally registered ST-ATN, and was delivered to Sudan Airways on 1 December 2007. According to Airbus, it had accumulated 52,000 flight hours and 21,000 cycles. The 60-year-old captain had logged 14,180 flight hours, including 3,088 hours on the Airbus A310. The 50-year-old first officer had 9,879 hours, with 3,347 of them on the Airbus A310.
Description
The flight originated in Amman. Its final destination was Khartoum, with an intermediate stop in Damascus. However, a sandstorm and heavy rain prevented the aircraft from landing in Khartoum, and forced the crew to divert to Port Sudan. The aircraft was later allowed to fly back to its original destination. The flight landed at Khartoum Airport at 17:26 UTC, but was not able to stop within the length of the runway. The aircraft overran the runway and came to rest beyond the end of runway 36. A fire then erupted on the starboard side of the aircraft. The slides on the side of the fire could not be deployed; passengers evacuated the aircraft using the port side slides.
Cause
The overrun was caused by a combination of a long landing flare, the wet runway, landing without autobrakes, and landing with the port thrust reverser deactivated. The inoperative reverser caused the plane to veer to the right when the captain activated reverse thrust in both engines. Low visibility and heavy rain and winds were also present at the time of the accident. Contributing to the long landing flare was the fact the crew had been incorrectly informed that they had a headwind for landing, when they actually had a tailwind.
Casualties
Out of 203 passengers and 11 crew members on board the aircraft, 29 passengers and 1 crew member lost their lives. Many of the casualties were children with disabilities, as well as seniors returning from treatment in Amman.
