Sudan Airways Flight 2241
Sudan Airways leased from Azza Transport Boeing 707-330C · Stalled shortly after take-off due to pilot error following engine cowl separation
From Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) to Khartoum International Airport (KRT)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA10RA010
- 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
- Final · AAIS final report, 12 Mar 2013
- Event fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 6
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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
Boeing 707-330C
- Flight
- SD2241
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 707
- 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
- ST-AKW
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Route
- From Sharjah International Airport (SHJ)To Khartoum International Airport (KRT)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Sudan Airways Flight 2241 was a scheduled cargo flight from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Khartoum, Sudan, operated by a Boeing 707. On 21 October 2009, the cargo plane's No. 4 engine cowling separated during lift off, and in an attempt to turn the plane around, it stalled and crashed north of the airport. All six occupants were killed.
Accident
At 15:30 local time (11:30 UTC) on 21 October 2009, a Boeing 707-320 of Azza Transport crashed 1.6 km from the end of runway 30 of Sharjah International Airport. The flight was destined for Khartoum International Airport and had just taken off at the time of the accident. The aircraft was carrying a cargo of air conditioning units, car parts, computers and tools. A piece of the aircraft fell off shortly after it became airborne, which was later identified as a part of a cowling from engine No. 4. The aircraft was totally destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire which killed all six crew on board.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi stated that the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates launched an investigation into the crash. It is reported that one area of inquiry is the engines. The Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder were recovered and sent to the United Kingdom for analysis. In February 2010, it was reported that both recorders were not functioning, and no data was recovered from them. In January 2011, the GCAA released an interim report. An engine cowling fell away from the No. 4 engine shortly after takeoff. The final report stated the cause of the accident was the aircraft exceeding the maximum bank angle. This caused a stall and loss of control that was not recoverable. The crew were responding to a perceived power loss of engine No. 4, although their response was inappropriate. The No. 4 engine's core cowls departed from the engine, and this led to the separation of the Engine Pressure Ratio flex line.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Sudan Airways Flight 2241” (revision 1368363042, 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 October 21, 2009, a Sudan Airways, B-707, registration ST-AKW, crashed shortly after takeoff from runway 30 at Sharjah International Airport, Sharjah, UAE. The six crewmembers on board were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The intended destination of the cargo flight was Khartoum, Sudan.
The investigation is being conducted by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). 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 and engines.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Sudan Airways Flight 2241
- Article
- Sudan Airways Flight 2241
- Revision
- 1368363042 · 2026-08-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q3631590
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA10RA010
- Event ID
- 20091117X32151
- Case number
- DCA10RA010
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Sudan Airways Flight 2241" (page 24772520, revision 1368363042); merged with NTSB case DCA10RA010 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS), General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), United Arab Emirates final report
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates; matches the Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS), General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), United Arab Emirates final report
- 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 DCA10RA010
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities; matches the Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS), General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), United Arab Emirates final report
- Ground fatalities
- Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS), General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), United Arab Emirates final report
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Sudan Airways Flight 2241" and NTSB case DCA10RA010, 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.
- Checked against the Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS), General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), United Arab Emirates final report (2013-03-12) on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, crash-site coordinates, flight number, fatalities, registration, operator, departure, destination and damage. Taken from the report: ground fatalities. Not checked: place, aircraft type and type of operation.