Johannesburg – Salisbury

On March 17, 1955 at 02:27 PM, Johannesburg – Salisbury experienced a crash involving Vickers Viking, operated by Central African Airways - CAA, with the event recorded near Harare Harare Province.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

28 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 28 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 23, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. 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.

Aircraft reference details include registration VP-YEX, MSN 159, year of manufacture 1946.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -17.8261°, 31.0495°.