0:06 On the 25th of August 2010, a plane took off on a short -haul flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On board were 18 passengers, three crew, and, if later newspaper reports are correct, one stowaway, a small crocodile concealed in a sports bag by a passenger who wished to take it to the nation's capital and sell it for profit. The crocodile would survive the flight that followed, but the same was not true for the vast majority of the 21 humans on board with it. In 2010, the Democratic Republic of Congo was a developing nation with a turbulent political history. Its aviation sector was not as well established as many other countries. Although there were many airlines in operation, most
0:55 had relatively poor safety records, and there was not yet the same standards of safety, record keeping, and reporting that existed in other countries. Indeed, at the time, all of the Democratic Republic of Congo's airlines were officially banned from flying in European Union airspace as a result of their poor safety records. Philair was one such airline. This company was founded in 1987 by Belgian pilot Danny Philomont, and operated flights between several population centers with a mixed fleet of small and medium -sized aircraft. It, like many of its competitors, did not have a perfect record, with at least two of its jets having been written off as a result of damage sustained during routine landings gone wrong. At the time, however,
1:45 Philair had not had any fatal accidents. On the 25th of August 2010, a flight took off from Semendur Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo, bound to Bandundu Airport close to the capital city of Kinshasa. The plane in use had the registration 9QCCN and was a Let L410 Turbolet, a twin -engine, short -range, unpressurized aircraft capable of accommodating less than 20 passengers, and which can take off and land using short or rudimentary runways. This was the fourth of five planned short flights that the plane would be making that day, all with the same crew. At each stop some passengers had embarked, some had disembarked, and some had remained on board for a later stop. It was
2:35 common for Philair flights to operate in this fashion, one, making multiple stops along a route. At the controls were pilot Danny Fillamotte, the founder and owner of the airline, and First Officer Chris Wilson. Chris, a British national, had previously worked as a flight attendant for a British airline but had moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo just a few months before in order to pursue his dream of becoming an operational pilot. He had completed his training and attained more than 1 ,000 flight hours. Also on board was one flight attendant and 18 passengers. The flight was due to take around 20 minutes in total. The first part of the flight went smoothly, but as the plane descended towards Bandundu airport, it executed a
3:23 go -around. That is, the pilots chose to abandon their first landing attempt, climbed to a higher altitude, and circled around for another approach. This is a perfectly normal procedure that may be executed for any number of reasons, including wind, a lack of visibility, or a misalignment with the runway. A go -around is considered a normal, precautionary safety procedure. It is not seen as a sign that anything is amiss or an indicator of an imminent emergency. However, on this occasion, before the plane could complete the go -around, it appeared to stall and, according to witnesses, fell from the sky like a leaf. It crashed down into a populated area, hitting and
4:08 destroying a mud -brick house. The occupants of the house had exited shortly before the crash, and nobody on the ground was injured. The plane, on the other hand, was completely destroyed, with the instant loss of 19 lives. Two passengers were extracted from the wreckage and taken to hospital. One later died of their injuries, leaving a sole survivor. The wreckage, which had not caught fire despite there still being a significant amount of fuel on board, was examined and cleared away. The Congolese Ministry of Transport carried out an investigation, but the results were not published, as they might have been in other countries. In the weeks that followed, reports appeared in several local media outlets claiming that the sole
4:57 survivor had revealed the reason for the crash. There had, allegedly, been a crocodile on board the plane, smuggled aboard inside a passenger's luggage. As the plane came in for its second landing attempt, the crocodile had escaped, prompting the flight attendant to run to the front of the plane. Other passengers had followed in an attempt to put distance between themselves and the escaped reptile. This sudden shift in weight distribution was blamed for the crash that followed. Some sources alleged that the crocodile itself survived the crash, but was later killed by one of the rescuers with a machete. Many sources referenced a video showing the crocodile emerging from the wreckage, but this video was never published. The story, while extraordinary, is not impossible.
5:48 Animals such as chickens and dogs were routinely carried on the flight and were allowed in the cabin. Crocodiles could be valuable, and it was conceivable that a passenger might want to carry a crocodile with them to sell in the nation's capital. The crocodile would have been small and would not have posed a threat to life in and of itself, but would potentially be large enough to cause alarm amongst passengers and prompt them to try and move away from it. While there are no well -known instances of planes crashing because of the sudden movement of passengers, it is possible, albeit unlikely, that the abrupt movement of everybody on board could destabilize a small plane. Thus the idea that the plane had crashed because of an
6:34 escaped crocodile became generally accepted. The story was published in newspapers around the world, many of them referring to the sole survivor as the source, and mentioning the unpublished video of the crocodile emerging from the wreckage. Aviation authorities in other countries sought further information, but were unable to obtain it. In particular, the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch, who were involved due to the death of British First Officer Chris Wilson, requested the flight data recorder, but did not receive it. In a statement, they described the crocodile story as a vague guess, and the verdict on First Officer Chris Wilson's death was left open. Other possible causes
7:20 for the crash were speculated on. Chris Wilson's brother, Martin Wilson, stated that Chris had often complained about flying alongside the airline's founder, Daniel Fillamotte, with particular reference to his eyesight being poor. He said, Every time he, Chris, flew with Mr. Fillamotte, there was always one incident or another. He said he didn't want to fly with him anymore. He said if it wasn't for the fact that they could see where they were going, they wouldn't ever get anywhere because Fillamotte couldn't read the instruments. He said he didn't know how Fillamotte was still alive. His flying was so bad. At around the same time, the wife of the late Daniel Fillamotte responded to a
8:08 newspaper article with an assertion that her husband had been the victim of a criminal act of sabotage. She noted that her husband's airline had just won several major contracts, prevailing over competitors and potentially creating enemies who might wish to engage in sabotage. She insisted that Fillaire's fleet was well maintained, unlike some other fleets in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but that planes which Daniel himself was due to fly had been vandalized or sabotaged several times. Still other sources claim that the crash was indeed caused by a sudden change in the weight distribution on board the aircraft as passengers moved towards the cockpit, but that this was not the result of an escaped crocodile on board, but instead the result
8:56 of the plane heading towards a reserve, unpaved runway that passengers might not have perceived as being a safe place to land. Ultimately, however, the evidence that might prove or disprove any theory is not available, and there is no sign that the Congolese Ministry of Transport intends to investigate further. This is not unusual, as the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo does not always investigate aviation accidents as thoroughly as authorities in some other countries. The story of a plane crashed by an escaped crocodile is an extraordinary and unlikely one, but the story is now so often repeated and so lacking in any alternate explanation that it is likely to remain the generally accepted cause for
9:47 the loss of twenty lives in a terrible accident in August 2010. Unity Online Drinks
