Mbala – Maputo

On October 19, 1986 at 09:21 PM, Mbala – Maputo experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-134, operated by Mozambican Government, with the event recorded near Komatipoort Mpumalanga.

The flight was categorized as government and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a mountains crash site.

44 people were known to be on board, 34 fatalities were recorded, 10 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 77.3%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 35, passenger fatalities: 26, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The Tupolev 134 departed Mbala (MMQ), Zambia, for a flight back to Maputo (MPM). The flight carried Mozambique president Samora Machel who had attended a meeting of African leaders in Zambia. While approaching Maputo, an inadvertent selection of the MATSAPA VOR frequency caused the crew to execute a premature 37-degrees turn. Although the pilot queried the turn, no effort was made to verify it by using the available navigational aids. The aircraft descended below the 3000 feet limit in spite of not having visual contact with Maputo. The crew erroneously assumed a power failure at Maputo. A 32-second GPWS warning was ignored and the aircraft collided with the ground at 2187 feet, bounced and crashed into an uphill slope. The aircraft broke up, slid across the South African/Eswatini border and caught fire. Machel, along with 33 other occupants did not survive the accident.

Aircraft reference details include registration C9-CAA, MSN 63457, year of manufacture 1980.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -25.4328°, 31.9558°.