Liberian President's plane mishap shuts down Monrovia airport
A private plane carrying Liberian President Joseph Boakai experienced a serious malfunction while landing at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia on Thursday. A tire burst, causing the plane to spin and come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the runway.
What do you need to know?
- What happened? During the landing of the private plane with Liberian President Joseph Boakai on board, a tire burst.
- What were the consequences? The airport was closed, and all three flights scheduled for that day were canceled. The airport management ruled out the possibility that the incident was caused by the poor condition of the runway.
- What are the airport's previous issues? In the past, Monrovia's airport had technical issues, leading some airlines, including Brussels Airlines, to suspend flights.
Dangerous incident on the runway
On Thursday evening, during the landing of the plane with Liberian President Joseph Boakai on board, a dangerous incident occurred. The plane's tire burst, causing the aircraft to come to an abrupt stop on the runway.
Although no one was injured, the airport was closed, and all three flights scheduled for that day were canceled.
This is not the first incident at this airport
On Friday, the Liberian Airport Authority (LAA) dismissed press suggestions that the incident was caused by the poor condition of the runway. The management stated that this event was solely caused by a mechanical failure related to the aircraft's tire, not by any structural defect of the runway.
In August of the previous year, a Royal Air Maroc plane narrowly avoided disaster at the same airport when one wheel missed the runway during landing and ended up on a muddy shoulder. The plane damaged several of the few lights illuminating the runway, but the pilot did not report this to the control tower and allowed passengers to calmly proceed to the terminal. The issue came to light during the departure, which was scheduled for 3 AM Eastern Time. It was hard to hide the lack of lighting.
In mid-2022, Brussels Airlines suspended flights to Monrovia due to the poor technical condition of the airport and its equipment. They only resumed operations after the LAA confirmed that problems related to the airport's navigation systems had been resolved in accordance with international standards. For similar reasons, French airlines had previously ceased operations on the route connecting Europe with Liberia.
An airport where NASA shuttles were supposed to land
Brussels Airlines is currently the only airline offering direct flights to Europe from Monrovia, even though before the 1989-2003 civil war, the country had direct connections with Paris, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Zurich, and New York.
The airport was managed by Pan American World Airways until 1989, for whom Monrovia was a major African hub. In the 1980s, it was even considered a potential landing site for NASA space shuttles.
