An Embraer ERJ135 of Airlink
Photo by: Airlink
South African regional and domestic airline Airlink on Monday issued an update regarding one of its Embraer ERJ135 37-seat regional airliners, which suffered from a runway excursion when landing at Pemba in Mozambique, on Thursday afternoon. The runway was wet at the time.
The aircraft, registration ZS-SJX, had been operating flight 4Z 204 from Johannesburg, and had been carrying 32 passengers and three crew. Everyone disembarked safely through the aircraft’s main front door. There were no injuries.
The airliner was successfully retrieved from the mud on Friday evening and relocated to the airport’s apron. This was done with the assistance of personnel from LAM Mozambique Airlines and South African air cargo operator Solenta, as well as other operators and Mozambican civil aviation stakeholders.
The retrieval of the aircraft allowed the reopening of the runway, enabling Airlink to send a backup plane from Johannesburg, carrying the airline’s recovery technical team. The backup was then also used to operate the delayed return flight from Pemba to Johannesburg, for the passengers who had been stranded in Pemba.
“An external visual inspection of the aircraft has not revealed any serious damage,” reported Airlink. “However, it is too early to tell if there is any underlying damage. The digital flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorders have been sent to Johannesburg for downloading and analysis. This should be completed in the next day or two. This will allow for a deeper assessment of the various flight parameters, such as lateral G-forces.”
Any work necessary to return the aircraft to service will be carried out by Airlink, under the guidance of its manufacturer, Embraer. Currently, however, the airliner is still in the hands of the Mozambican air accident investigation unit, as they carry out their investigation into the incident. Until the investigators release the plane, Airlink cannot touch it.