Starsky Aviation Fokker 50 Overruns Runway in Mogadishu
Mogadishu, Somalia — A Starsky Aviation Fokker 50 turboprop carrying 55 people overran the runway at Aden Adde International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, coming to rest on a sandy beach along the Indian Ocean shoreline. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely, though the aircraft sustained heavy structural damage, according to Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The aircraft, registered as 6O-YAS, departed Mogadishu at approximately 1:17 p.m. local time on a scheduled domestic service bound for Galkayo in central Somalia. Roughly 15 minutes after takeoff, the flight crew reported unspecified technical difficulties and turned back toward the airport. Air traffic control cleared the turboprop for an emergency landing on runway 23, but the aircraft was unable to stop within the available runway length. It overran the paved surface, went over an embankment, and slid onto the beach adjacent to the airfield’s western perimeter.
Photographs and video circulating on social media showed the Fokker 50 resting on sand near the waterline, its right wing fractured and separated from the fuselage. Passengers could be seen exiting the aircraft through open doors, some wading through shallow water as emergency responders and bystanders gathered at the scene. Airport officials said the priority in the immediate aftermath was preventing a post-impact fire given the aircraft’s proximity to fuel and seawater.
“The aircraft overran on the runway,” Starsky Aviation chief executive Ahmed Nur said in a statement. “No injuries, no deaths.” Somalia’s transportation minister, Mohamed Farah Nuh, confirmed that rescue teams accounted for all 50 passengers and five crew members aboard. The SCAA director, Ahmed Moallim Hassan, told state broadcaster SNTV that the pilot attempted to return to the airport but lost directional control during the landing roll.
Meteorological data from Mogadishu at the time of the incident indicated good visibility and no adverse weather conditions, according to FlightGlobal. That narrows the scope of the investigation toward mechanical factors, aircraft performance, and operational procedures. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority said it has opened a formal inquiry examining maintenance records, runway conditions, and crew actions leading up to the overrun. Starsky has grounded the airframe pending the outcome of that review.
Aden Adde International Airport sits right along the Indian Ocean coast — a geographic reality that leaves almost no buffer zone beyond the runway thresholds. Any excursion off the paved surface ends not in a standard overrun area but on sand or in shallow water. It’s a well-known operational constraint, and one that has figured in previous incidents at the airport.
This is not the first time a Fokker 50 has come to grief at Mogadishu. In July 2022, a Jubba Airways Fokker 50 operating a domestic flight from Baidoa flipped over on landing at the same airport, coming to rest upside down at the beginning of the runway. All 36 passengers and crew survived that accident as well. And in a separate incident involving a Silverstone Air Services Fokker 50 freighter operating on behalf of the African Union mission, the aircraft suffered hydraulic failure after takeoff from Mogadishu, returned for landing, lost steering control, veered off the runway, and collided with a concrete perimeter wall, seriously injuring both pilots.
The Fokker 50 itself is a Dutch-designed, twin-engine turboprop that first entered service in 1987 as a modernized successor to the venerable F27 Friendship. Production ceased in the mid-1990s following Fokker’s bankruptcy, meaning every airframe still flying today is at least three decades old. The type remains popular with smaller regional carriers, cargo operators, and humanitarian contractors across Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, valued for its rugged construction, short-field capability, and relatively low operating costs. But aging fleets demand rigorous maintenance — particularly in hot, sandy, and coastal environments like Mogadishu, where salt air and fine particulates accelerate wear on engines and critical systems.
Starsky Aviation, formerly known as Starsom Air before rebranding in 2022, is a Mogadishu-based operator established in 2013. The airline serves domestic routes and limited regional destinations across East Africa, providing passenger, charter, and cargo services to communities where overland travel remains slow, unreliable, or dangerous. Like many carriers in the region, it relies on older turboprop types suited to short runways and austere operating conditions.
The incident briefly shut down operations at Aden Adde International Airport, though normal service resumed later in the day. For an airport that doubles as Mogadishu’s sole commercial gateway and a hub for humanitarian and military logistics, even a temporary closure carries outsized consequences.
What remains to be determined is why the aircraft couldn’t hold altitude after departure and whether the subsequent runway overrun reflected a mechanical failure compounded by the airport’s unforgiving geography — or something more systemic about fleet maintenance and oversight in one of the world’s most challenging aviation environments.
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