Central African Airways - CAA

Vickers Viscount

The flight is a scheduled service from Salisbury, Rhodesia, to London and is known as the Zambezi service. This service is operated by three crews, one crew operating from Salisbury to Entebbe, the second from Entebbe to Benina and the third from Benina to London. On 8 August this service departed from Salisbury at 0713LT and a stop was made at Ndola for traffic purposes. At Entebbe, a relief crew took over the aircraft for the sector to Benina. Stops were made at Khartoum and Wadi Halfa for refuelling and the aircraft left Wadi Halfa at 2120LT for Benina. The flight was completely uneventful and slightly ahead of schedule up to the time of the accident. At 0112 hours the aircraft was cleared into Benina control zone. At the request of the pilot, at 0114 hours, permission was given by Benina Approach Control to make a direct approach on to runway 330° Right, using the locator and the responder beacons. Between 20 and 30 seconds after this clearance had been acknowledged by the pilot the aircraft struck high ground 5,5 miles to the southeast of the aerodrome. Fire broke out on impact. Of the 7 crew and 47 passengers aboard the aircraft, 4 crew and 32 passengers were killed.

Vickers Viking

The crew was engaged in a local training sortie at Salisbury Airport. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing, the airplane went out of control and crashed 3 km from the airfield. Both pilots were killed. It is believed the accident was caused by an error on part of the copilot.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

While approaching Blantyre, the pilot encountered low visibility due to foggy conditions and decided to attempt an emergency landing when the airplane hit a tree and crashed in Lunzu, about 6 km northeast of the Chileka Airport. The airplane was destroyed upon impact and all five occupants were injured.

Vickers Viking

The aircraft departed Jan Smuts Airport at 1115LT on a scheduled flight to Belvedere Airport, Salisbury, under VFR conditions, carrying 23 passengers and a crew of 5. At 1427LT, while approaching runway 27 from the east on final approach during a thunderstorm, the undercarriage struck the ground a short distance to the north and east of the threshold of runway 27, causing the starboard tire to burst, the starboard leg of the undercarriage to break and the starboard propeller engine to be severely damaged. The pilot endeavored to undertake overshoot procedure but as the starboard engine and propeller could not deliver power and the aircraft was at a speed below the minimum required for effective control, he was obliged to make a crash landing. No one was injured but the aircraft was extensively damaged.

Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3)

Just after liftoff from runway 09, while in initial climb, the crew raised the gear when smoke spread into the cockpit. The captain decided to land immediately. The aircraft belly landed and skidded for dozen yards before it overran and came to rest on a railway. Twenty-five occupants evacuated safely while the flight engineer was killed by a propeller blade coming from the left engine that penetrated the cockpit.

Vickers Viking

While cruising, the twin engine aircraft encountered poor weather conditions with turbulences and strong winds, disintegrated in the air and crashed near Mkwaya, killing all 13 occupants.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

Crashed in unknown circumstances near a lake located in Salima. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

Crashed in unknown circumstances. Occupant fate unknown.

De Havilland DH.104 Dove

Crashed on final approach to Livingstone Airport. The occupant fate remains unknown.

De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide

Crashed on approach to Zambezi Airport for unknown reason. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and all six occupants were slightly injured.