Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on April 5, 2021
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday the United States was “gravely concerned” about violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and was looking into reports of massacres there.
Price welcomed statements that Eritrean troops would withdraw from Tigray and said a withdrawal would be an important step forward in de-escalation in the region.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on April 5, 2021
🔥 #TigrayGenocide / የትግራይ ጀነሳይድ
💭 “Many people believe that it is now genocidal, that what is a political intent to destroy is becoming now an intent to destroy, in whole or part, a people,”
We get an update on how the Ethiopian government has announced Eritrean forces are withdrawing from the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, where harrowing witness accounts have emerged of Eritrean soldiers killing Tigrayan men and boys and rape being used as weapon of war by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. Eritrea entered the Tigray region to support Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s military offensive in November targeting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The true death toll from the conflict remains unknown, but researchers recently identified almost 2,000 people killed in 150 massacres by warring factions. CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir, who just returned from reporting on the region, says what started as a “competition for power” has descended into ethnic cleansing. “Many people believe that it is now genocidal, that what is a political intent to destroy is becoming now an intent to destroy, in whole or part, a people,” says.
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET871 was scheduled to operate from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Ndola, Zambia, this morning. The flight was operated by a five year old Boeing 737-800 with the registration code ET-AQP.
It’s being reported that the plane ended up landing at the wrong airport:
The plane was supposed to land at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport, which is the international airport currently being used in Ndola. Instead the plane landed at Copperbelt International Airport, which is the new international airport in the city that’s nearing completion, but not yet open. Somehow the aircraft landed at the new airport by accident. After landing it simply taxied back to the runway, took off, and landed at the correct airport nearly on schedule.
AN Ethopian Airlines is allegedly to have landed at the new Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport which is under construction in Ndola,
instead of the current one in use.
Pilot error comes as the foremost obvious reason.
AN Ethopian Airlines is allegedly to have landed at the new Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport which is under construction in Ndola, instead of the current one in use. Pilot error comes as the foremost obvious reason
How could something like this happen?
As advanced as aviation is, this is far from the first time that a plane has landed at the wrong airport, and it will be far from the last time.
As of now we don’t have much information about what exactly happened, though I’m sure more details will emerge once there’s an investigation. A few things stand out:
Based on my understanding, the new airport looks a lot more like a major airport than the current one; of course that doesn’t justify landing at the wrong airport, but if they were on a visual approach, it explains what could have contributed to this
I wonder if the ATC audio from this will be released; was there a lapse in communication, or how did neither the pilots nor controllers realize the plane was landing at the new airport?
I don’t believe the airport under construction has an operational tower, so it’s pretty amazing that despite landing at the wrong airport, the plane still arrived on-time; did the pilots just make the decision to take off, or was there any dialogue with authorities at the airport?
Bottom line
While details are still limited as of now, it’s being reported that an Ethiopian Airlines 737 accidentally landed at the wrong airport in Zambia today. Instead of landing at the current international airport in the city, the plane instead landed at the new international airport under construction, about 10 miles away. The plane ended up taking off pretty quickly, and still arrived at the correct airport on-time.
I’ll be curious to see if this is investigated more closely, and if so, what the cause of this is determined to be.