On 15 July 1960, at 09:04, Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines , formerly Ethiopian Air Lines, often referred to as simply Ethiopian, is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It serves as the country's flag carrier, and is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia...

 Flight 372, a C-47 Skytrain

C-47 Skytrain

The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...

 registered as

Aircraft registration

An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...

 ET-T-18, took off from Bulki

Bulki

Bulki is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the lower valley of the Senti River, in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1963 meters above sea level...

, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, on a short-haul

Flight length

In aviation, the flight length is defined as the time airborne during a flight.- Domestic :A short-haul domestic flight is commonly categorized into being no longer than 1.5 hours in length, meaning that all domestic flights within a country such as the United Kingdom are short-haul...

 flight to Aba Segud Airport

Aba Segud Airport

-External links:*...

, Jimma

Jimma

Jimma, also Jima, is the largest city in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of . The town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a...

, Ethiopia. There were eight passengers, three crew and a cargo of coffee on board. At 09:40, the pilot requested the activation of the Jimma non-directional beacon (NDB)

Non-directional beacon

A non-directional beacon is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. As the name implies, the signal transmitted does not include inherent directional information, in contrast to other navigational aids such as low frequency radio range, VHF...

 to assist his navigation. There was no further contact with the flight.

The aircraft was found to have crashed at 9,400 feet into the side of a mountain 27.5 km (17.1 mi) south of Jimma, killing one of the pilots and leaving ten of the passengers and remaining crew injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Cause

It was determined that the accident was caused by the following:

1. The pilot misjudged the weather conditions, in that he continued to fly into deteriorating weather conditions while trying to maintain visual flight rules

Visual flight rules

Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...

.

2. The pilot misjudged the performance capabilities of the aircraft, in that he attempted to climb at a speed below the minimum safe climbing speed of the aircraft.