Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 · Engine failure on takeoff leading to runway overrun
From Goma International Airport (GOM) to Ndjili International Airport (FIH)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA08RA050
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 40 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 37
- Occupants
- 94
- Survivors
- 91
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 111 · 71 on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51
- Flight
- EO122
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 9Q-CHN
- Operator
- Hewa Bora Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Goma International Airport (GOM)To Ndjili International Airport (FIH)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 15 April 2008, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 plane crashed into a residential and market area of Goma of the Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately south of Goma International Airport.
Background
The eastern part of the DRC had been war-torn for decades, as various factions sought control of mineral resources. Goma was a center for the air shipping of cassiterite (tin oxide ore) from Nord-Kivu.
The European Union placed all DRC airlines on its List of airlines banned in the EU. HBA has held a single exemption for a single Boeing 767-266ER tail number 9Q-CJD, construction number 193H-1209, but that too had been removed on 11 April 2008. Very similar crashes in the DRC the previous October in the capital, Kinshasa and in 1996 also came down in residential or market areas. Because the DRC has so little passable roadway, most freight is moved by air and markets are common near airstrips.
HBA operated a number of different aircraft types, none of them modern. This aircraft was 31 years old.
Goma is on the volcanically active Great African Rift Valley. One volcano, Nyiragongo, is so close that its January 2002 eruption destroyed the north end of runway 18/36, leaving just 2 km for aircraft operations. Goma International is at 1551 m elevation, and the mid-afternoon temperature is about 22 °C. These factors would reduce the Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) on the 1995 metre runway from 55 t to less than 45 t. Another report states that only 1600 to 1800 m of the runway was usable. If the lower of these figures were correct, then the corresponding MTOW would be reduced another 3 t.
Crash
The aircraft was departing Goma bound for Kisangani. According to the director of the RVA, the number one engine caught fire after 300 m. The fire developed into an uncontained engine failure. The aircraft subsequently overran the runway and crashed at 14:30 local time (12:30 UTC), impacting concrete homes, shops and market stalls. The crash site was located at the Birere market on l'Avenue du 20 Mai, just beyond the south end of runway 18.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
In their 2011 report to Congress, the NTSB classified this accident as a major ongoing investigation in which they were assisting the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122” (revision 1370742437, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
On April 15, 2008, a Hewa Bora DC-9-51, registration 9Q-CHN, overran runway 18 and crashed into a residential area after aborting the takeoff. The aircraft was destroyed along with several residential buildings. Of the 86 passengers and 8 crewmembers onboard, 3 passengers received fatal injuries and 40 received minor or serious injuries. Initial reports indicate there were 37 ground persons that received fatal injuries and 71 that received minor or serious injuries.
The investigation is being conducted by the Republic of Congo. The NTSB has assigned an Accredited Representative to assist the investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the Country of Manufacture and Design of the airplane.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122
- Article
- Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122
- Revision
- 1370742437 · 2026-08-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q770821
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA08RA050
- Event ID
- 20080422X00526
- Case number
- DCA08RA050
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122" (page 16944222, revision 1370742437); merged with NTSB case DCA08RA050 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA08RA050
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122" and NTSB case DCA08RA050, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.