Seronera Lodge - Kilimanjaro

On September 1, 1999 at 10:26 AM, Seronera Lodge - Kilimanjaro experienced a crash involving Cessna 404 Titan, operated by Northern Air, with the event recorded near Mt Meru Arusha Region.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

12 people were known to be on board, 12 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 11, passenger fatalities: 11, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Two Cessna 404 Titan II operated by Northern Air departed Seronera Lodge in the mid morning on a charter flight to Kilimanjaro Airport, carrying a total of 18 US tourists and two pilots (7 passengers and one pilot in the first aircraft and 11 passengers and one pilot in the second aircraft). The passengers should be later transferred from Kilimanjaro to Nairobi with an Air Kenya aircraft. After takeoff, the pilot in the first Cessna warned the second pilot about the lack of visibility in the area. While cruising in marginal weather conditions at an altitude of 8,770 feet, the second aircraft struck the southern slope of Mt Meru (4,565 metres high). The wreckage was found the following day at an altitude of 2,833 metres. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and all 12 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration 5H-NAT, MSN 404-0805, year of manufacture 1981.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -3.2434°, 36.7498°.