Kenyan pilot in ill-fated cargo plane that crashed in Somalia buried in Nairobi
His burial was attended by family, friends and colleagues who worked with him at Wilson Airport where he operated.
Family, friends and colleagues of 48-year-old Captain Mohammed Abdul Noor, the pilot who was flying the ill-fated Kenyan cargo plane that crashed in Somalia on Saturday, has been laid to rest at Nairobi’s Langata Muslim Cemetery on Monday.
Captain Mohammed was flying a DHC-5D Buffalo cargo plane registration 5Y-RBA which went down on Saturday evening, approximately 24 kilometres from the Somalia capital Mogadishu, as confirmed by the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) which said on Sunday that all five people on board were killed in the crash. SCAA said an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the crash.
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The remains of the late Capt. Mohammed, together with those of the four other Kenyans, were brought home late on Sunday.
Mohammed’s body was then taken to Masjid Nur in Nairobi’s South C for burial preparation before interment after prayers as per Islamic norms and practices.
He was buried on Monday at the Langata Muslim Cemetery.
The late Captain Mohammed Abdul Noor’s burial at Nairobi’s Langata Muslim Cemetery on March 24, 2025. (Photo: Courtesy)
His burial was attended by family, friends and colleagues who worked with him at Wilson Airport where he operated and where his family has been running Trident Aviation Company for many years.
Home of pilots
Captain Mohammed hailed from a home of pilots and engineers.
His father, Abdul Noor, is an aeronautical engineer who worked for Kenya Airforce. His brother Ibrahim Abdul Noor is a pilot who moved to Denmark where he lives with his family.
Others are Abdulrahman Abdul Noor who is an aerospace engineer and Ishaq Abdul Noor who also works at Trident Aviation Operations. He also has also left behind a sister, Bahiya Abdul Noor.
Mohamed Sheikh Noor, his first cousin described the late Captain Mohammed as a religious and kind person. He said they spoke daily including on the fateful day.
“We spoke daily even on the fateful day. Captain Mohammed was a very kind and humble person. He was very generous and loved to pay alms to the needy. He was my first cousin, but we were raised together in the same house, so he was my brother. He has been flying for over 25 years,” Mohamed told The Eastleigh Voice.
During the fateful flight, they had dropped cargo in Dhobley from Mogadishu and were returning to Aden Adde International Airport where he was based but the plane crashed on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
Born and raised in Nairobi
Musa Abubakar, a friend of the late Mohammed said he had known the late pilot since childhood and that he was born and raised in Nairobi.
“I last saw him just before Ramadan when he went to Somalia for work. We were raised together in Nairobi West. He went to Khalsa Primary School and joined Highway Secondary School where he did his KCSE in 1995. A year later, he went to Canada for a piloting course and returned home in 1998. He has been a pilot since 1999,” Musa told The Eastleigh Voice after the burial.
Mohamed started his flying career working at his father’s Trident Aviation Company. He later worked at Bluebird Aviation for around 5 years. He also worked for Skyward Aviation before moving to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania where he trained pilots before returning home to revive his father’s Trident Aviation Company in early 2024.
He started working with the same Buffalo cargo plane that crushed and killed him. He was carrying humanitarian aid in South Sudan before moving to Somalia.
On the fateful day, he had just dropped cargo in Dhobley and on his return to Mogadishu, the plane crashed near Jazeera, outside the seaside Somalia capital city.
The late Captain Mohammed has left behind a wife and two children.
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