Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on May 25, 2021
The airbase also gives the controller access for operations into the Red Sea
A mysterious airbase is being built on a volcanic island—the Mayun Island off Yemen. No country has claimed the structure being built in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The strait is one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo.is linked to the United Arab Emirates, AP reports.
Officials in Yemen’s government say that the UAE is behind the current attempt too. In 2019, UAE had announced that it was withdrawing its troops from a Saudi-led military campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Whoever controls an airbase on the Mayun island is automatically elevated to a position of power, as it allows them to launch airstrikes into conflict-ridden Yemen. The airbase also gives the controller access for operations into the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and nearby East Africa.
Dump trucks and graders building a 6,070-foot runway on the island can be seen on satellite images from Planet Labs Inc as of April 11.
Military officials have said that the recent tension between Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the UAE was partly due to UAE demanding that the Yemeni government sign a 20-year lease for Mayun island.
The strategic location of the island also known as Perim island has been recognised internationally. The island was under British control until 1967 when they departed from Yemen.
Ass per a 1981 CIA analysis, the Soviet Union, allied with South Yemen’s Marxist government, upgraded Mayun’s naval facilities but used them intermittently.
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.