Cessna 406 Caravan

The twin engine airplane departed Windhoek-Eros Airport on a local post maintenance test flight, carrying two pilots and one technician. After takeoff, the crew encountered an unexpected situation and elected to return for an emergency landing. On final approach to runway 19, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a street located in the suburb of Pioneerspark, bursting into flames. All three occupants were killed.

While taking off from runway 12/30 at Sasakwa Airfield, the twin engine aircraft went out of control and crashed, bursting into flames. All six occupants were injured, some seriously, and the aircraft burnt out.

The crew consisting of one instructor and one pilot under supervision departed Mwanza for a local training flight with approaches and touch-and-go manoeuvres. Shortly after takeoff from runway 12, while climbing to an altitude of 800 feet, the twin engine aircraft rolled to the right then entered a right turn and an uncontrolled descent before crashing on the top of a small hill located 890 metres from the runway 30 threshold. The aircraft was totally destroyed and both pilots were killed, a British instructor and an Australian citizen pilot under training.

The crew was scheduled to perform a geophysical survey flight for the government of Uganda between Entebbe and Masindi. Shortly after takeoff from Entebbe Airport runway 17, while climbing to a height of about 1,500 metres, the twin engine aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in an open field. Both occupants were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.

The aircraft was taking off for a scheduled flight from Arusha to Seronera. At 12:15 hours the aircraft taxied from the apron to the threshold of runway 27 at which point take off for Seronera was initiated. The controller, who was handling the flight, said that the initial segment of the take off roll was normal. When the aircraft had covered about 500 metres he saw the left main landing gear collapsing and the aircraft swinging to the left of the runway. It continued to run on its belly pod on a grass hedge parallel to runway 27 and came to rest at the eastern edge of the apron. There was no fire and all the occupants deplaned without injuries. The aircraft sustained damage to propellers, the right wing, the fuselage and underside structure. The cargo pod in the belly was completely destroyed and its debris was scattered along the wreckage trail.

The aircraft and its commander were concluding the fifth sector of the day when, shortly after starting a descent for Inverness, the aircraft’s rate of descent became unsteady and it started to turn left. The available evidence indicated that the aircraft struck the ground in a steep, left, spiral dive. The extreme fragmentation of the wreckage suggested a high impact speed, probably in the region of 350 kt. Major airframe and powerplant failures were discounted but otherwise, there was insufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about the reasons for the sudden deviation from controlled flight and secondly, the absence of any evidence consistent with an attempt to recover from the dive. Two safety recommendations made recently to the EASA concerning flight recorders were re-iterated.