Safarilink Aviation Flight 053
De Havilland Canada DHC-8-315 and 99 Flying School Cessna 172M · Mid-air collision, under investigation
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA24WA108
- 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
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 46
- Survivors
- 44
- 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
Aircraft 1 · De Havilland Canada DHC-8-315
- Flight
- F2053
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-8
- 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
- 5Y-SLK
- Operator
- Safarilink Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 44
- Survivors
- 44
- 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
- Not stated
- Route
- From Nairobi Wilson Airport (WIL)To Ukunda Airstrip (UKA)
- 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., Non-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
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 172M
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- 5Y-NNJ
- Operator
- 99 Flying School
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Occupants
- 2
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Wilson Airport, Nairobi, KenyaTo Wilson Airport, Nairobi, Kenya
- 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., Non-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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
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 5 March 2024, Safarilink Aviation Flight 053, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8, en route from Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, to Ukunda Airport, Kenya, collided soon after takeoff with a Cessna 172 training flight operated by 99 Flying School over Nairobi National Park. The Dash 8 returned to Wilson Airport and landed safely with part of the deicing boot missing, and with all 44 aboard unharmed, but the Cessna spun out of control and crashed in the national park, killing both occupants.
Accident
The collision occurred at around 09:34 EAT (6:34 UTC) in visual meteorological conditions.
Safarilink Aviation Flight 053 was operating from Wilson Airport en route to Ukunda Airport in the coastal resort town of Diani Beach. The captain was the pilot flying and the first officer (FO) was the pilot monitoring. At 9:29 GMT, Flight 053 was cleared to taxi to runway 14 via taxiway C. The Wilson air traffic control tower told Flight 053 to stand by for takeoff because Cessna 5Y-NNJ had been cleared for a touch-and-go landing on runway 07, which intersects runway 14. Cessna 5Y-NNJ completed the manoeuvre and the Wilson tower controller cleared Flight 053 for takeoff and issued a traffic advisory to other pilots in the vicinity that an aircraft was taking off from runway 14. The tower controller advised Flight 053 that Cessna 5Y-NNJ should be on the crosswind leg of the airfield traffic pattern. The last communication with 5Y-NNJ was that of the pilots acknowledging a warning from ATC about traffic departing on runway 14, and traffic was identified as 5Y-SLK.
Flight 053 conducted a routine takeoff from runway 14, was instructed by the Wilson tower controller to contact Nairobi approach control, and initiated contact. As the flight was climbing through an altitude of about 6,000 ft mean sea level (MSL), about 530 ft above runway elevation, the pilots heard a what they referred to as a "loud bang" and requested an immediate return to Wilson Airport. Approach control approved the request, and the pilots contacted the Wilson tower and landed safely in the opposite direction on the same runway. All 44 people on board the aircraft were unharmed.
The Cessna, which also originated from Wilson Airport, had been flying in the airfield traffic pattern on an instructional flight for 99 Flying School, practicing touch-and-go landings on runway 07. Shortly after the collision, the Cessna crashed into the grounds of the Nairobi National Park near the airport, killing both pilots on board. The tower controller unsuccessfully tried to contact the Cessna on the radio multiple times, but with no response. The pilot of another aircraft that had departed from runway 14 behind Flight 053 told the tower controller that she had seen something "flying low" near Flight 053. Soon afterwards, the pilots of other aircraft reported spotting the wreckage of Cessna 5Y-NNJ, and the tower controller activated the crash alarm. A helicopter that was in the area landed at the crash site to offer assistance.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) of the Republic of Kenya launched an investigation into the accident and issued a preliminary report.
Sections of the deicing boots on the right wing and the right horizontal stabilizer of the Dash 8 were missing when the aircraft was inspected after landing. They were found next to the Cessna crash site. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) of the Dash 8 were not damaged and were retained by investigators for analysis.
The fuselage of the Cessna bent severely and broke into several pieces, which investigators attributed primarily to a steep nose-down ground impact. The main wreckage was found to the right of the extended centreline of runway 14, 1.663 nmi inside the national park. Several sub-assemblies of the Cessna, including pieces of the horizontal stabilizers were separated from the fuselage and were found within 112.5 m of the main wreckage site. The Cessna did not carry, nor was it required to carry, a CVR or FDR.
Medical and pathological test results for the pilots were forthcoming when the preliminary report was issued; however, the report stated that there was "no evidence that physiological factors or incapacitation affected the performance" of the pilots of Flight 053.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Safarilink Aviation Flight 053” (revision 1352097465, 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
Sources
Wikipedia article: Safarilink Aviation Flight 053
- Revision
- 1352097465 · 2026-05-02 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q124827295
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record GAA24WA108
- Event ID
- 20240307193893
- Case number
- GAA24WA108
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Safarilink Aviation Flight 053" (page 76310428, revision 1352097465); merged with NTSB case GAA24WA108 (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 GAA24WA108
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Safarilink Aviation Flight 053" and NTSB case GAA24WA108, 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.