Two airplanes collide in Nairobi: summary

What we know:

• A Diani-bound Safarilink aircraft and another aircraft belonging to a flight school collided mid-air in Nairobi on March 5. The accident occurred shortly after the Diani-bound aircraft with 44 people on board took off from the Wilson Airport.
• A student pilot and his instructor who were in the Cessna plane 172 belonging to Ninety Nine flight school lost their lives after crashing into the Nairobi National Park about 10km from the airport.
• The accident is said to have happened around 7.05 AM GMT. All thirty-nine passengers and five crew members on board the Safarilink landed without any injuries. The Dash 9 Safari Link aircraft registration 5YSLK reported the incident and requested to land about six minutes after take-off.
• Aviation accidents are a rare phenomenon as planes are usually flying miles apart from each other and on unique paths.
• The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has begun investigations into the incident to determine the cause of the collision. They will analyse the voice recordings as part of investigations.

What they said:

The Safarilink Aviation said in a release, “The Dash 8 aircraft 5Y-SLK incurred some damage to its tail as it was climbing out of Wilson Airport after receiving Air Traffic Control clearance. The aircraft has since been withdrawn from service awaiting inspection by the regulatory authorities”. Head of Communications at KCAA also told The Nation that “the Wilson airport has a full-fledged control tower”.