Uganda: Student Pilot Didn't Land On a Road By Mistake in South Sudan or Kenya - Viral Photo From Uganda

19 December 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Grace Gichuhi

Student pilot didn't land on a road by mistake in South Sudan or Kenya - viral photo from Uganda

IN SHORT: According to some social media users, a learner pilot landed an aircraft on New Site Road after mistaking it for Juba International Airport in South Sudan. Others claimed that the incident occurred in Kenya. However, the image is from a 2014 emergency landing of a US military plane in Uganda.

A photo is circulating on social media with the claim that it shows a "small twin-engine turboprop plane" that landed on New Site Road in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Users who posted it claimed that a pilot, allegedly a student at the University of Juba, mistook the road for Juba International Airport.

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The airport is the country's main aviation hub and is located just a few kilometres from the city centre. It connects South Sudan to domestic and international destinations.

The image shows a white aircraft resting on a narrow road lined with trees, with a crowd of onlookers gathered nearby, suggesting an unusual event.

The same photo has also circulated with a different claim: that it shows a plane landing in Lang'ata, Kenya, after a student pilot confused the road for Wilson Airport, a domestic airport serving charter and regional flights about five kilometres southwest of Nairobi's city centre.

If true, either scenario would suggest a serious lapse in navigation or aviation safety. Aircraft are designed to land on runways, and road landings typically occur only during emergencies such as engine failure, severe weather or the absence of a suitable airstrip.

This photo has also been published here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)

But where was this photo actually taken, and what is the story behind it? We checked.

Photo taken in 2014 in Uganda

A Google reverse image search traced the photo back to Uganda in 2014.

According to a Daily Monitor report titled "US plane in emergency landing", the image shows a US CA212 aircraft after an emergency landing in Kiwawu village in Mityana district, about 100 kilometres west of Kampala, Uganda's capital.

At the time, Mityana police said the plane, carrying eight US soldiers, had run out of fuel. No one was injured, and the incident was not a crash.

The aircraft had been flying to South Sudan for military operations, but bad weather forced it to turn back, and insufficient fuel prevented it from reaching Entebbe Airport.

Claims that the photo shows a student pilot landing on a road in South Sudan or in Kenya are false.

The false claim has also been published here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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