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Air Rhodesia Flight 825

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Air Rhodesia Flight RH825
Occurrence
DateSeptember 3, 1978
SummaryCivilian airliner shoot-down
SiteWest of Karoi
16°47′S 29°5′E / 16.783°S 29.083°E / -16.783; 29.083
Aircraft typeVickers Viscount
OperatorAir Rhodesia
RegistrationVP-WAS
(formerly EP-AHA)
Flight originSalisbury, Rhodesia
Last stopoverKariba, Rhodesia
DestinationSalisbury, Rhodesia
Passengers52
Crew4
Fatalities48 (38 in crash followed by the murder of 10 at the crash site)
Survivors8

Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled flight from Kariba, Rhodesia to Salisbury, Rhodesia that was shot down on September 3, 1978 by ZIPRA guerillas using a SA-7 surface-to-air missile

Incident

The Vickers Viscount aircraft named The Hunyani was operating a scheduled service between Kariba and Salisbury. Five minutes after taking off from Kariba, passengers heard a loud bang from one of the starboard engines. At 5:10pm the commander, Captain John Hood, sent a distress call to air traffic control informing them that he had lost both starboard engines, and was going to crash. The explosion ruptured fuel and pressurized hydraulic lines, causing a fire that could not be extinguished.

Air Rhodesia Flight 825 is located in ZimbabweAir Rhodesia Flight 825class=notpageimage| Air Rhodesia Flight RH825 crash site

Captain Hood managed to maintain control of the aircraft as it descended, and aimed it for a cotton field in the bush, west of Karoi in the Whamira Hills. The pilots attempted to belly-land the aircraft and told the passengers to brace for impact; seconds later, the fuselage and wings started scraping against the tops of trees. The landing initially looked like it would succeed, but a 4-metre (13 ft) wide [[Donga (ditch) |donga]] that crossed the field caused the plane to pitch over and burst into flame.

Eighteen of the fifty-six passengers survived the crash, with most of these having been seated in the rear. Five of the survivors went to a local village to ask for water. However upon returning, they heard African voices and automatic gunfire - ZIPRA guerrillas killed 10 of the survivors before looting the aircraft. Rickard, a former Air Zimbabwe pilot claims that the alleged rape of an Air Hostess was invented by the "sensationalistic Jo'burg papers". Three crash survivors who initially remained at the aircraft managed to avoid being killed by running away and hiding in the bush.

Joshua Nkomo said in a BBC interview that his guerrillas had shot the aircraft down, saying that it was being used for military purposes, but denied killing the survivors. Five days after the disaster, the Rhodesian government confirmed that the plane had been shot down by a Strela 2 missile.

Air Rhodesia Flight RH827

Main article: Air Rhodesia Flight RH827

Air Rhodesia Flight RH827, Umniati, was another scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury that was shot down on 12 February 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile in similar circumstances to Air Rhodesia Flight 825. The aircraft turned into a fireball in the sky and crashed into a ravine. All 59 aboard were killed.

See also

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References

  1. "Air Rhodesia- Accident & incidents". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2007-11-01. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. "Lead Article". The Times. 1978-09-06.
  3. Keith Nell. "The Rhodesian Viscount Disasters". Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  4. Rob Rickards. "The Hunyani Disaster". Viscounts in Africa - The Air Rhodesia story. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  5. "Seeds of Political Destruction". Time Magazine. September 18, 1978.
  6. Rob Rickards. "The Viscount Disasters - The Story". Viscounts in Africa - The Air Rhodesia story. Retrieved 2010-10-09.

External links

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1978 (1978)
Jan 1 Air India Flight 855Feb 11 Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314Feb 17 British Army Gazelle downingMar 1 Continental Airlines Flight 603Mar 3 LAV HS 748 accidentMar 9 China Airlines Flight 831Mar 13 United Airlines Flight 696Mar 16 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 107Apr 20 Korean Air Lines Flight 902May 8 National Airlines Flight 193May 19 Aeroflot Flight 6709May 23 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crashJun 21 Iranian Chinook shootdownJun 26 Air Canada Flight 189Jun 26 Helikopter Service Flight 165Aug 9 Olympic Airways Flight 411Aug 30 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijackingSep 3 Air Rhodesia Flight 825Sep 7 Air Ceylon Avro HS 748 bombingSep 25 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182Sep 26 Air Caribbean Flight 309Sep 30 Finnair Flight 405Oct 3 Finnish Air Force DC-3 crashOct 7 Aeroflot Flight 1080Oct 21 Valentich disappearanceOct 23 Aeroflot Flight 6515Nov 15 Loftleiðir Flight 001Dec 4 Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217Dec 17 Indian Airlines Flight 403Dec 20 Indian Airlines Flight 410Dec 21 TWA Flight 541Dec 22 Cessna 188 Pacific rescueDec 23 Alitalia Flight 4128Dec 28 United Airlines Flight 173
1977   ◄    ►   1979
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