One 5 yr old survivor found apparently....crash location is '9.2 miles north of Comoros Island and 20 miles from the airport' (press release, take with grain of salt. R.)
Moroni is a notoriously difficult airfield to fly into, especially at night. The airport is at sea-level on the West side of a skinny island, with a 7700' mountain just to the southeast of it and a 3600' one to the northeast..
There is no published approach to Rwy 20, just an VOR/DME/ILS for 02.
Easy to get disoriented at night as there are very few ground lights, a true 'black-hole' with part of it being the volcano mentioned -snip- (R.)
Moroni is shiv!!!
It is a fighter approach on to the main Rw, around a 6000' mountain. With that wind - WS highly probable. The G/A is even worse (ignore the speculation, plz, WS is possible but not at all highly probable at that stage, lets oly talk facts. R.)
Indeed "interesting" terrain, esp at night: Approach charts here: http://www.ais-asecna.org/en/atlas/comores/moroni.htmThis isn't a place for the fainthearted.
I have seen many white faces after the first visit a night with a little WX to contend with.
Luckily no other traffic to contend with so ATC not a problem.
A serious black hole approach at night.
Glad not to be flying there anymore.
Approach vid for Rwy 02 (NOTE they probably went in for Rwy 20), gives an idea of the surroundings you see on the maps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCG3tjxPRTQ-snip- while a 3 degree PAPI is installed on Rwy 02, Rwy 20 has no PAPI. Given the actual wind conditions, this circling with prescribed flight tracks calls for trouble during a night approach...
Wonder why they have chosen to put the PAPI on 02 ISOF 20 (R.)
We use essential cookies to make this site work, and optional cookies to enhance your experience.