Investigators in Mozambique are looking into the cause of an in-flight impact to a Boeing 737-700 which occurred on approach to the city of Tete.
Mozambican carrier LAM says the incident involved its domestic flight TM136 from Maputo on 5 January.
The 737 had departed at 15:35 and had been inbound to Tete at 17:15 with 80 passengers and six crew members.
LAM says the crew had the runway in sight at Tete when the crew “heard a bang”, which raised the possibility that the aircraft had experienced “contact” with an “external” agent.
The airline has not identified the nature of the event.
But meteorological data for Tete at around the time indicates reduced visibility, rain and thunderstorm activity.
The impact did not affect the approach but damage to the right side of the forward fuselage was discovered after the aircraft landed.
LAM says another aircraft was sourced to transport passengers on the return service to Maputo.
While LAM has not identified the airframe involved, Flight Fleets Analyzer lists only a single 737-700 (C9-BAQ) in service with the airline. This jet, it states, is a 13-year old aircraft leased from AerCap.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
