Claim: “A Royal Air Maroc airplane reportedly crashed earlier this morning at Robert International Airport”
Source: Facebook blog Pepper Bird and Edwin Clarke
Verdict: Incorrect, the Royal Air Maroc didn’t crash but an incursion occurred.
Full Text: On August 17, 2024, Pepper Bird a Facebook blog posted that the Royal Air Maroc airplane reportedly crashed this morning hour at Robert International Airport.
According to the post, fortunately, no casualties have been reported. However, Pepper Bird contradicted itself in the same by referring to the incident as a “hard landing and missing of the runway.”
A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing.
The terms hard landing and firm landing are often mixed up though are inherently different. A hard landing is never intended and if an aircraft has had a hard landing, it must be inspected for damage before its next flight.
A similar post was made by Edwin Clarke, Media Analyst at the General Auditing Commission (GAC), a state enterprise.
Royal Air Maroc was established in 1953 by merging Air Atlas and Chérifienne de Transports Aériens Air Maroc. The new airline’s fleet included six Bretagnes, four Commandos, five DC-3s, and two Languedocs, serving previously served routes and adding Frankfurt, Geneva, and Paris. The airline ranked the largest in Africa.
Verification: TSM verified a report of a Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crash at the Liberia Airport Authority through their Facebook page and website, but found no information of a plane crash as posted by the above blog and government official.
However, we found a “release” published by DN News, an online media outlet in Liberia. It reported that Liberia’s Airport Authority (LAA) reported an incident involving a Royal Air Marc flight on August 17, 2024.
The Boeing 737-800 Series aircraft, with flight number AT-567, landed at Roberts International Airport without any reported incidents. However, during a routine inspection, debris was found, causing further inspections and damage to the runway.
“Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) and the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA) were notified of an incident involving an aircraft that veered off the runway, resulting in no injuries or structural damage to the aircraft and no fatalities, despite the passengers being unaware of the incident. Inspection teams from LCAA and AAlB visited the airport, observing an incident involving an aircraft that veered off the runway, resulting in no injuries or structural damage,” the release added.
Departing passengers were then hosted in nearby hotels, awaiting another Royal Air Maroc flight out of the airport scheduled to come later during the day. Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated by the LCAA and AAlB, and the aircraft will be grounded until further notice. As the investigation is ongoing, further updates will be made available as new information arises.
Wilmot Reeves, an aviation expert, says the incident is an incursion, not a crash. “An ‘incident’ is the keyword for the incursion. It can result from debris, foreign object debris (FOD), or skipping off the runway. The investigation is ongoing, and the AIB (Aircraft Investigation Bureau) is the only legitimate group that has come out with findings.”
Conclusion: TSM research reveals Pepper-Bird’s and Clark’s Facebook posts about a Moroccan airline Boeing 737-800 series crash at the RIA on August 17, 2024, are misleading. Rather, the plane made a hard landing and missed the runway, not crashed, as claimed by those Facebook users.
