Zambia landing goof-up: Two pilots 'mistakenly' touch down at airport 'under construction'

A pilot landed Ethiopian Airlines Cargo flight ET3891 at an unfinished airport still under construction in Zambia ‘by mistake’, then a second Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft, flight ET871, taxied on the same wrong runway minutes later, alarming the construction workers on the non-operational airport. However, the second pilot did an emergency go around and flew to the correct airport, another pilot wrote in a Facebook post on the African aviation group. A probe was ordered into the incident, although it remains unclear what prompted the two planes to make a landing on the wrong runway. 

According to the flight tracking site, FlightRadar24.com, the first plane operated a flight from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa to the previously named ‘Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Airport’ in Ndola, whose name was recently changed to ‘Ndola International’. Instead, the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 landed on the Copperbelt International Airport, which is yet to be finished. This airport has been renamed Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe. 

The ET-AYL aircraft was destined to taxi on the eastern side of Ndola, but flying 60 kilometers north of Ndola it steered to the south-westerly direction for the airport under construction. A government official at Africa’s transport ministry told News24 that the pilot hit the tarmac 15 kilometers away ‘in error’. He was told by the ATC ahead of landing that the plane could not be seen, and he landed ‘using eyesight’ as he had no controls. 

Possible 'snag in navigation software'

The plane caused no reported damage and the pilot eventually flew to the accurate airport following a communication lapse with the radar. According to the pilot that shared the incident, the mistake could have been caused as the Chinese-built Copperbelt International Airport looked like a major airport and both the plane’s destination tarmac and the where it landed wrongly were oriented in a similar direction. However, the visual approach opted by the airline pilot was still questionable. Another possibility listed by the reporting pilot was the snag in the navigation software, that may have programmed the plane to land at Copperbelt. The authorities, however, are waiting for the ATC audio clips to ascertain how neither the pilot nor air traffic controllers could understand what was happening.  

(Image Credit: Facebook/FlyAfrica)