Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 air disaster
Encyclopedia
The Mozambican presidential Tupolev Tu-134A-3
aircraft crashed just inside South African territory on October 19, 1986. The aircraft was carrying Mozambican
president Samora Machel
and 43 other occupants on a flight from Mbala in Zambia
to the Mozambican capital Maputo
when it crashed 35 nm
(65 km) west of its destination at Mbuzini
in the Lebombo Mountains
. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government.
While there was widespread suspicion—both nationally and internationally—that the South African government was implicated in the crash, no conclusive evidence to this effect has emerged.
(SSC) meeting in January 1984 minuted a discussion of their Mozambican working group, which included General Jac Buchner and Major Craig Williamson
, where assistance to RENAMO was discussed as a means of overthrowing the FRELIMO government of Mozambique. The TRC later included this minute as circumstantial evidence
in their inconclusive report.
On March 16, 1984, the Nkomati Accord
was signed at Komatipoort
between South Africa and Mozambique. A clause in this agreement prohibited support of third-party resistance groups. In his commentary on the accord, South African foreign minister Pik Botha
admitted in an SABC
television interview that South Africa had offered limited support to RENAMO in the past.
for allegedly allowing terrorists to enter South Africa from its territory. The Frontline States convened an emergency meeting in Maputo on October 12, to address an incursion of Renamo operatives from Malawi. South Africa and Malawi's Banda
were denounced as waging a terrorist campaign against Mozambique. Malan replied on October 15 by warning the Front Line leaders that they would share the consequences of ANC
terrorist attacks. Mozambique later cited Malan's remarks as evidence to implicate South Africa in the air crash.
On Sunday, October 19, three Front Line leaders, Machel, Kenneth Kaunda
and Eduardo dos Santos
met at Mbala, Zambia, to confront Zairian
president Mobutu Sésé Seko
concerning his channeling of funds to UNITA
, which was in alliance with South Africa.
C9-CAA, was manufactured by Tupolev
in 1980 according to specifications for Mozambique. It had flown a total of 1,105 flying hours since new, and had underwent its last major inspection in August 1984 in the USSR. Service records indicated that it had been properly maintained, and data recovered from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR)
showed the aircraft and all its systems were operating normally.
The flight crew of five consisted of a captain, co-pilot, flight engineer
, navigator
and radio operator, who were all USSR state employees operating the aircraft for the Mozambican government. They were well experienced in both day and night flying in Mozambique and in landings at Maputo airport
.
On the morning of October 19th, Machel boarded the airplane at Maputo, and after a refueling stop in Lusaka, Zambia arrived at Mbala at 11:00. After the meeting with Kaunda and Dos Santos, Machel and his party re-boarded the aircraft and departed Mbala at 18:38 for a non-stop return to Maputo. The weather forecast for the flight was favourable, with an estimated time of arrival of 21:25.
, reporting its position and that it was continuing towards the Maputo VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR)
navigation beacon while maintaining an altitude of 35,000 feet. At 21:02 the crew radioed that they were ready to begin descending, and after being instructed by the Maputo controller to report reaching 3,000 feet MSL or when the runway lights were in sight, began their descent for an ILS approach
to runway 23.
Over the next eight minutes the aircraft maintained its required track toward Maputo with minor lateral deviations. Then at 21:10 the airplane commenced a turn away from Maputo to the right, lasting almost one minute in duration and a resulting heading change from 184° magnetic to 221°. At this time the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
recorded the navigator stating the distance remaining to Maputo as 100 kilometres (54 nmi), then a comment from the captain about the turn, and the navigator's response that the "VOR indicates that way".
Around 21:15 the navigator stated that the distance to Maputo was 60 kilometres (32.4 nmi). Over the next few minutes, there were several comments from the crew indicating that they believed the navigational aids at Maputo were unavailable: the captain stated that "there is no Maputo" and "electrical power is off, chaps!", while the navigator reported that the Instrument Landing System (ILS)
and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
were switched off and that the non-directional beacons (NDBs)
were not working.
to runway 05. During this time, the navigator stated the distance to Maputo as 25-30km, the captain remarked that something was wrong, and the co-pilot said that the runway was not lit.
The crew radioed the Maputo controller and asked him to "check your runway lights". Around 21:21 the navigator stated the range to Maputo as 18-20km, and the flight repeated its request to Maputo to check runway lights. Upon reaching an altitude of 2,611 feet AGL
the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) sounded and remained on, and although the captain cursed, the descent continued.
During the last 22 seconds of the flight, the crew twice more radioed Maputo about the runway lights, affirming that they were not in sight, which was eventually acknowledged by the Maputo controller. Meanwhile the captain stated "cloudy, cloudy, cloudy" and the navigator exclaimed "no, no, there's nowhere to go, there's no NDBs
, nothing!". The captain then added "Neither NDBs, nor ILS!", which were the last words recorded on the CVR. The aircraft first impacted terrain at 21:21:39, approximately 35 nautical miles (64.8 km) west of Maputo in a hilly region at an elevation of 2185 feet (666 m). At the time of the accident, it was a very dark night, a few minutes before moonrise. The last weather report passed to the aircraft indicated 10 kilometres (5.4 nmi) of visibility with 3/8 cloud cover at 1,800 feet.
was carried out, all without success.
The actual accident site was in a remote, inaccessible corner of South Africa, approximately 150 meters from the Mozambiquean border. The left wing hit a tree and then the aircraft had proceeded to break up before sliding down a hill, distributing the wreckage over a debris field 846m in length. A police officer was alerted at approximately 23:00 by a villager from Mbuzini
, and the first responder to the scene was a member of the Komatipoort
police station who arrived at 23:40. The first medical personnel reached the site at 01:00. Shortly after 04:00, a helicopter and medical crew from the South African Air Force base at Hoedspruit
arrived and proceeded to evacuate the survivors to Nelspruit
hospital.
Of the five members of the flight crew, only the flight engineer survived. All four Mozambican cabin crew were fatally injured, as were 26 of the 35 passengers. According to the autopsy conducted by a South African pathologist, Machel died instantly. Besides Machel, other notable dead include Marxist scholar and diplomat Aquino de Bragança, Machels possible successor Fernando Honwana, press secretary Muradali Mamadhussein, photo-journalist Daniel Maquinasse, transport minister Alcantara Santos, and transport minister Alcantara Santos. One survivor died 2½ months after the crash from their injuries.
In Mozambique the first indications of the tragedy were when Radio Mozambique switched to funeral music at 08:30. Some minutes later Marcelino dos Santos
, a member of the ruling FRELIMO Party, read a statement that President Machel's aircraft had not returned to Maputo as scheduled the previous evening. Dos Santos said authorities were analyzing the situation and appealed for people to both stay calm and remain vigilant. Mozambican security minister, Sergio Vieira, traveled to Mbuzini with Pik Botha, and proceeded to the crash site and personally identified Machel's body.
FRELIMO issued a second communique that evening confirming Machel's death. It did not accuse South Africa directly, however it did suggest that the crash had been criminal in origin. While over the following days and weeks Mozambican government officials would continue to refrain from overt statements of South African complicity, many other leaders in Africa stated outright that the apartheid government was responsible. Violence erupted in Harare, Zimbabwe, when cars driven by whites were attacked by angry demonstrators, prompting an editorial rebuke in Mozambique that declared that Machel had been committed to a non-racial Africa.
After lying in state at Maputo City Hall, Machel's funeral on October 28th was attended by more than 100 foreign delegations. Eulogized as a fighter who died in the struggle against apartheid, banners in the crowd made reference to South African involvement in the crash. Meanwhile, South African government officials also freely speculated as to the cause of the crash, suggesting weather or mechanical failure were to blame. Later Pik Botha declared that autopsies on the Soviet flight crew indicated that they had possibly been been intoxicated by alcohol.
. Autopsies were conducted on only the four dead flight crew and three others and the bodies returned to Mozambique without the approval of the SACAA.
On arrival, Mozambican minister Sérgio Vieira asked for the documents that were taken from the aircraft to be handed to him. The SA commissioner of police, Johann Coetzee, had already made copies of these, and the documents were transferred to Vieira.
In accordance with the South African Air Control Act, aircraft accidents are required to be investigated by the SA Department of Transport. Thus Pik Botha consulted Hendrik Schoeman of the Department of Transport, once Machel’s death was confirmed. After Botha and Schoeman had visited the crash site, Botha cited special circumstances and other international protocols
as reasons to become involved.
newspaper on November 24, 1986 that he had listened to Maputo air traffic control
’s recordings and studied a transcription of them. These he acquired from Foreign Affair’s representative in the South African team.
Director Renee van Zyl of the South African Civil Aviation Bureau then served a writ
on Botha and the SAP
, and received the two recorders unceremoniously at 15:45 on November 11, 1986. On October 24th a 26-member Soviet and Mozambican delegation traveled from Maputo to Komatipoort to join the South African team investigating the crash. Eventually agreement was reached for representatives of South Africa, Mozambique and the Soviet Union to jointly examine the CVR tapes under Swiss
auspices in Zurich
. The DFDR was taken to Moscow where the data from it was retrieved in the presence of representatives of all three countries.
and the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch
requesting official assistance in the investigation, however both agencies were not willing to become involved on in individual basis. Pik Botha would later state that on his recommendation, due to the mounting suspicions of South African culpability in the crash, the services of three foreign individuals were obtained, and these persons became three of the six members of the Board of Inquiry. These individuals were: Frank Borman
, an aeronautical engineer, former United States test pilot, astronaut and CEO of Eastern Air Lines
, Geoffrey Wilkinson, former head of the British Department for Transport
’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and Sir Edward Eveleigh, former Lord Justice of Appeal
and member of the British Privy Council.
The three South African board members included J.J.S. Germishuys, former South African Commissioner for Civil Aviation, and P. van Hoven, chairman of the Airlines Association of South Africa. The inquiry was chaired by Cecil Margo
, a member of the South African Supreme Court who had participated in several other high-profile aircraft accident investigations previously. Board members participated in the earlier fact-finding portion of the investigation, and conducted public hearings
at the Supreme Court
in Johannesburg
from January 20th until January 26th, 1987. The board then adjourned to analyze the evidence and reach conclusions as to cause.
mode, which when set maintained the desired heading while making corrections for wind drift. The navigator performed this turn after he saw the VOR signal indicating that the aircraft had intercepted the Maputo VOR 45° radial, the compass direction from Maputo on which the crew intended to turn and approach for a landing on runway 23. However the turn actually put aircraft on a path following a 45° radial from the VOR beacon at Matsapa Airport
, Swaziland
.
Discounting the possibility of a false VOR beacon, an analysis of which was included in an appendix, the board considered it probable that the flight crew had inadvertently set the first of two VOR receivers on board to the Matsapa VOR frequency. This error was made more likely by the poor design of the instruments, the absence of back lighting of the selected frequencies, the fact the the two frequencies were unusually close, 112.7 MHz for Maputo and 112.3 MHz for Matsapa, and the similarity between the figures '7' and '3' on the Soviet instrumentation.
The board considered it "quite likely" that after the turn the captain re-tuned first VOR receiver to the ILS frequency, as the intrument was found in this state after the crash. For the final stages of flight, the aircraft was not following any VOR signal; instead the autopilot was tracking the 221° heading the navigator had set earlier during the turn. The post-accident settings of the second VOR receiver showed that it was displaying the airplane's position relative to Maputo and was correctly set to the Matupo VOR frequency, but was apparently not being used to guide the autopilot nor was it being monitored by the crew.
The captain's initial erroneous assumption that Maputo had suffered an electrical blackout was never reconsidered by the crew, despite evidence to the contrary. Throughout the descent the crew were in radio contact with the Maputo controller, who therefore had electrical power, and backup power generators were standard equipment for airport navigational aids. All the navigation aids at Maputo were determined by the board to be working at the time of the accident, although the aircraft was flying too far away and too low to receive the ILS and NDB signals. When announcing the distance remaining to Maputo the navigator was apparently referring to the Doppler navigation system, which was not accurate, rather than the DME equipment available on board which correctly displayed the distance to the Maupto DME beacon.
The crew were criticized for failing to perform any checklist items or navigational aid identification, as well as for the distractions and non-essential conversations
in the cockpit during the descent into Maputo. As a consequence of not announcing to the other crew members which navigational aids were being used, or the frequencies being set, mistakes could not be corrected by others through "cross-checking". Regarding it essential that the relatively large crew in the cockpit work as a well-integrated team
, the board concluded that "demonstrably they had not".
The board found that use of non-standard phraseology between the Maputo controller and the crew led to confusion about the status of the ILS signal and whether the runway lights were on. The flight crew's repeated requests to "check runway lights" were interpreted by the controller, based on the use of the word 'check' in civil aviation, as confirmation by the crew that they had the runway lights in sight. The aircraft had not refueled at Mbala before departing and did not have enough fuel remaining to reach the intended alternative airport in Beira, Mozambique
by the time it reached Maputo. This may have greatly increased the pressure on the crew to continue with the landing approach to Maputo despite the difficulties encountered.
Although the Maputo controller had specifically cleared the aircraft only to 3,000 ft and no lower until the runway lights were in sight, the descent continued below that height at a rate of 500 feet per minute, without the runway lights visible, in darkness and partially cloudy conditions. The only reaction to the warning by the GPWS, which sounded for 32 seconds, was the captain exclaiming "Damn it!" and a very slight nose-up pitch of the aircraft. The board concluded that even just seconds before the impact had the crew performed the required procedures for a GPWS alert when flying over hilly or unknown terrain, quickly raising the nose and increasing power, this would have prevented the crash. The captain was singled out for criticism by the board for the decision to continue the descent without any ground references and with the belief that all navigation aids at Maputo were not working, instead of climbing to the published minimum safe altitude
for the Maputo area of 3,600 ft and verifying his position through other aids available, including his radar.
In addition the board issued five safety recommendations which covered the use of and recurrent training in approved terminology in ATC communications for both ground and flight crews, monitoring of crew compliance with established procedures, a proposal that CVRs retain a record of the last hour of fight, rather than the standard of 30 minutes, and the importance of maintaining navigational aids to international standards.
The report was endorsed unanimously by the six members of the board and submitted to the South African Minister of Transport Affairs on July 2nd, 1987.
Mozambique also provided a technical report prepared by Ron Chippindale
of the New Zealand Office of Air Accidents Investigations examining the possibility of tampering with or replacing the genuine Maputo VOR signal with a decoy. His conclusions were that it would be "simple" to setup a mobile VOR, however in order to effectively replace the genuine signal the Maputo VOR would have to be turned off.
The Mozambican analysis of and findings from the evidence led them to conclude:
convention. In their remarks, the USSR reiterated their endorsement of the previously agreed upon factual information contained in the draft. However regarding the analysis, conclusions and recommendations that followed, the Soviets stated the basic task of the investigation should be to determine the reasons for the 37° turn, which "remained unsolved in the report", and that conclusions of the draft based on the crew's errors were "totally ungrounded". They ended their remarks with a full rejection of the draft, calling it "worthless", and instead offering their own analysis and conclusions.
The Soviet delegation stated the theory that the crew had mistakenly selected the Matsapa VOR was contradicted by the known settings of the onboard navigation equipment and the timing of the turn. They said that the data recovered from the magnetic flight data recorder did not correspond to the path of an aircraft following the signal from the Matsapa VOR. The Soviet team submitted a technical report to support their belief the Matsapa VOR's signal was not strong enough at the point of the turn for the navigation equipment on-board the aircraft to receive it effectively, and further that the airplane was below the coverage of the VOR, therefore the signal from the Matsapa VOR could not have been the cause of the deviation.
According to the Soviets the other navigational aids at Maputo were not strong enough to reach the aircraft and therefore were of no help to the flight crew. A LAM Airlines Boeing 737
flying at around the same time as the accident aircraft reported receiving the Matupo VOR signal unusually early, at a distance of about 190 nautical miles (351.9 km). The Soviets stated that this was actually the false decoy beacon that was working with a higher signal level that the actual Maputo VOR.
The Soviets stated that there was an earlier ground proximity warning system
(GPWS) alert about 4½ minutes before impact which was triggered by the signal from the decoy VOR beacon, and this false alert was interpreted by the flight crew as a systems fault in the GPWS. Receipt by the flight crew of the visual landing clearance from the Maputo controller implied a permission to descend below 3000ft according to ICAO procedures. When the GPWS sounded shortly before impact the crew, doubting its reliability, disregarded it as false, and believing they were over the low terrain continued their descent.
The Soviets concluded that:
in the Lebombos was first expressed by South African helicopter pilots on the morning following the crash, followed by a similar suggestion in an anonymous call to UPI
by a supposed SAAF
officer, a day later. The pilots' speculative remark was revealed to Sérgio Vieira, Mozambique's minister of security, in a rash comment by South African police commissioner Johann Coetzee Neither the Mozambican or Russian teams however, nor any witness testimony given, supplied any evidence or direct allegation concerning a secondary beacon to the Margo commission. The Margo commission's draft report then proposed Matsapa airfield's VOR
, combined with pilot error
, as playing a likely role in the trajectory followed by the aircraft. The USSR delegation disputed this, saying the signal was obscured by mountains.
A breakdown in communications followed, causing Gen. Earp of the South African Air Force
to authorise military pilots to penetrate Mozambique airspace
to test the Matsapa theory. They returned with confirmation, though the final report relied on additional testimonies of commercial pilots who flew on C9-CAA's track. They likewise confirmed clear VOR signals from Matsapa. Mozambican pilot Dias, who supported the Matsapa theory, illustrated his interpretation of events to Mozambican officials on a flight from Lisbon
to Maputo. Mozambican authorities however remained unconvinced and suspended air controller de Jesus on May 5, 1998, for allegedly having been bribed to tamper with Maputo airport's beacon on the night of the crash.
The TRC investigation was criticized for taking place in camera
and without any aviation specialist being present. The testimony was further led by a prominent radio journalist rather than a judge. The TRC's investigation did not find conclusive evidence to support or refute either of the earlier reports. Nonetheless, some pieces of circumstantial evidence collected by the TRC lead to questions being raised about a number of the Margo Commission's findings:
The TRC report concluded that the questions of a false beacon
and the absence of a warning from the South African authorities require "further investigation by an appropriate structure".
A police video in the TRC's possession shows South African foreign minister Pik Botha
telling journalists at the crash site that President Samora Machel and others killed in the crash were his and President P.W. Botha
's "very good friends", and that their deaths were therefore a tragedy for South Africa.
member, Hans Louw, serving a 28-year term at Baviaanspoort Prison near Pretoria
, had confessed to participating in a plot to kill Machel. A false radio navigation
al beacon would have been used to lure the aircraft off course, with Louw forming part of an alleged backup team to shoot the aircraft down if it didn't crash. The newspaper also alleged that another of the plotters, former Rhodesian Selous Scout
, Edwin Mudingi, supported Louw's claim. However, after an investigation by the Scorpions
, a South African special police unit, it was reported in July 2003 and in October 2008 that they could find no evidence for South African complicity.
announced on February 2, 2006 that the Machel death crash inquiry would be reopened. He told reporters in parliament that all of South Africa's law enforcement agencies were expected to be involved in the probe, in co-operation with their Mozambican counterparts.
was erected at the crash site. Designed by Mozambican architect, Jose Forjaz, at a cost to the South African government of 1.5 million Rand (US$ 300,000), the monument comprises 35 whistling wind pipes
to symbolise each of the lives lost in the air crash. It was inaugurated on January 19, 1999 by Nelson Mandela
, his wife Graça, and by President Joaquim Chissano
of Mozambique.
declared the memorial a national heritage site. Leading up to the event the Mozambican president Guebuza
, who chaired the Mozambican inquiry in 1986, repeated a commitment to discover the truth about the incident, while President Mbeki, in his state of the nation address of February 3, 2006, mentioned that a satisfactory explanation was still lacking.
believes the air crash was no accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her late husband's killers. In May 1999, Graça Machel said in an interview on SABC
TV's News Maker programme that she remained convinced the apartheid regime was responsible, and challenged former foreign minister Pik Botha
to come clean about Samora Machel's death. In reply, Botha told SABC TV on May 16, 1999 that although he had been one of the first people on the scene and was called on to identify Machel's body, the only facts he knew about the crash were the findings of the Margo Commission:
reached the conclusions that the crash had immediate wider repercussions for Mozambique's economy. An annual 7.7% decline in GDP
under Machel's communist
nationalisation
policies, reverted to growth averaging 2.4% per annum under the freer, multi-party democracy
in the tenure of his successor, Joaquim Chissano
.
version was titled "Onsigbaar") by South African author Deon Meyer
.
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
aircraft crashed just inside South African territory on October 19, 1986. The aircraft was carrying Mozambican
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
president Samora Machel
Samora Machel
Samora Moisés Machel was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique...
and 43 other occupants on a flight from Mbala in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
to the Mozambican capital Maputo
Maputo
Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
when it crashed 35 nm
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
(65 km) west of its destination at Mbuzini
Mbuzini
Mbuzini is a village in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Situated near to the borders of Mozambique and Swaziland. This is where Mozambican president, Samora Machel, and 34 other passengers died in a fatal airplane crash in 1986...
in the Lebombo Mountains
Lebombo Mountains
The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains, are an 800km long, narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa stretching from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa in the north. Part of the mountains are found in South Africa,...
. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government.
While there was widespread suspicion—both nationally and internationally—that the South African government was implicated in the crash, no conclusive evidence to this effect has emerged.
Political background
1984
South Africa's State Security CouncilState Security Council
The State Security Council presided over the National Security Management System of president P W Botha's apartheid regime in South Africa. Its function was to advise the government on formulating and executing national security policy. Botha himself chaired the SSC, which was served by a...
(SSC) meeting in January 1984 minuted a discussion of their Mozambican working group, which included General Jac Buchner and Major Craig Williamson
Craig Williamson
Craig Michael Williamson , a former South African police major, was exposed as a spy in 1980, and was involved in a series of state-sponsored overseas bombings, burglaries, kidnappings, assassinations and propaganda during the apartheid era.-Infiltration:In the late 1970s, Craig Williamson had...
, where assistance to RENAMO was discussed as a means of overthrowing the FRELIMO government of Mozambique. The TRC later included this minute as circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
in their inconclusive report.
On March 16, 1984, the Nkomati Accord
Nkomati Accord
The Nkomati Accord was a non-aggression pact signed on 16 March 1984 between the government of the People's Republic of Mozambique and the government of the Republic of South Africa. The event took place at the South African town of Komatipoort with the signatories being Samora Machel and PW Botha...
was signed at Komatipoort
Komatipoort
Komatipoort is a town situated at the confluence of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 8km from the Crocodile Bridge Gate into the Kruger Park, and just 5km from the Mozambique border and 65km from the Swazi border. It is a small, quiet town with some...
between South Africa and Mozambique. A clause in this agreement prohibited support of third-party resistance groups. In his commentary on the accord, South African foreign minister Pik Botha
Pik Botha
Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha is a former South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era...
admitted in an SABC
South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa and provides 18 radio stations as well as 3 television broadcasts to the general public.-Early years:Radio broadcasting began in South Africa in 1923...
television interview that South Africa had offered limited support to RENAMO in the past.
1986
On October 7, 1986 Mozambique was sharply criticised by South African general Magnus MalanMagnus Malan
General Magnus André De Merindol Malan was the Minister of Defence , Chief of the South African Defence Force and Chief of the South African Army.-Early life:...
for allegedly allowing terrorists to enter South Africa from its territory. The Frontline States convened an emergency meeting in Maputo on October 12, to address an incursion of Renamo operatives from Malawi. South Africa and Malawi's Banda
Hastings Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda was the leader of Malawi and its predecessor state, Nyasaland, from 1961 to 1994. After receiving much of his education overseas, Banda returned to his home country to speak against colonialism and advocate for independence...
were denounced as waging a terrorist campaign against Mozambique. Malan replied on October 15 by warning the Front Line leaders that they would share the consequences of ANC
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
terrorist attacks. Mozambique later cited Malan's remarks as evidence to implicate South Africa in the air crash.
On Sunday, October 19, three Front Line leaders, Machel, Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth David Kaunda, known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.-Early life:Kaunda was the youngest of eight children. He was born at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali, Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia...
and Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos is an Angolan politician who has been the second and current President of Angola since 1979. As President, José Eduardo dos Santos is also the commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces and president of the MPLA , the party that has been ruling Angola since...
met at Mbala, Zambia, to confront Zairian
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
president Mobutu Sésé Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sese Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997...
concerning his channeling of funds to UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
, which was in alliance with South Africa.
Accident flight
- All times in this article are local (UTC+2UTC+2UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
).
Aircraft, flight crew and itinerary
The airplane being used to transport Machel that day, registrationAircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
C9-CAA, was manufactured by Tupolev
Tupolev
Tupolev is a Russian aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Basmanny District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. Known officially as Public Stock Company Tupolev, it is the successor of the Tupolev OKB or Tupolev Design Bureau headed by the Soviet aerospace engineer A.N. Tupolev...
in 1980 according to specifications for Mozambique. It had flown a total of 1,105 flying hours since new, and had underwent its last major inspection in August 1984 in the USSR. Service records indicated that it had been properly maintained, and data recovered from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR)
Flight data recorder
A flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
showed the aircraft and all its systems were operating normally.
The flight crew of five consisted of a captain, co-pilot, flight engineer
Flight engineer
Flight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
, navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
and radio operator, who were all USSR state employees operating the aircraft for the Mozambican government. They were well experienced in both day and night flying in Mozambique and in landings at Maputo airport
Maputo International Airport
Maputo International Airport , also known as Lourenço Marques Airport, is an airport located northwest of the center of Maputo, the largest city and capital of Mozambique. It is the largest airport in Mozambique, and hub for LAM Mozambique Airlines and Kaya Airlines...
.
On the morning of October 19th, Machel boarded the airplane at Maputo, and after a refueling stop in Lusaka, Zambia arrived at Mbala at 11:00. After the meeting with Kaunda and Dos Santos, Machel and his party re-boarded the aircraft and departed Mbala at 18:38 for a non-stop return to Maputo. The weather forecast for the flight was favourable, with an estimated time of arrival of 21:25.
Start of decent and 37° turn
At 20:46, the flight made its first radio contact with Maputo Air Traffic Control (ATC)Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
, reporting its position and that it was continuing towards the Maputo VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR)
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
navigation beacon while maintaining an altitude of 35,000 feet. At 21:02 the crew radioed that they were ready to begin descending, and after being instructed by the Maputo controller to report reaching 3,000 feet MSL or when the runway lights were in sight, began their descent for an ILS approach
Instrument approach
For aircraft operating under instrument flight rules , an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft under instrument flight conditions from the beginning of the initial approach to a landing, or to a point...
to runway 23.
Over the next eight minutes the aircraft maintained its required track toward Maputo with minor lateral deviations. Then at 21:10 the airplane commenced a turn away from Maputo to the right, lasting almost one minute in duration and a resulting heading change from 184° magnetic to 221°. At this time the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
Cockpit voice recorder
A cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
recorded the navigator stating the distance remaining to Maputo as 100 kilometres (54 nmi), then a comment from the captain about the turn, and the navigator's response that the "VOR indicates that way".
Around 21:15 the navigator stated that the distance to Maputo was 60 kilometres (32.4 nmi). Over the next few minutes, there were several comments from the crew indicating that they believed the navigational aids at Maputo were unavailable: the captain stated that "there is no Maputo" and "electrical power is off, chaps!", while the navigator reported that the Instrument Landing System (ILS)
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
Distance Measuring Equipment
Distance measuring equipment is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF or UHF radio signals....
were switched off and that the non-directional beacons (NDBs)
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...
were not working.
Landing clearance and crash
Shortly after 21:18, the aircraft reached 3,000 feet in its descent, and the crew informed the Maputo controller that they were maintaining that altitude, however the airplane continued to descend. The Maputo controller granted clearance to the flight for an ILS approach to runway 23, but after the flight crew reported the ILS out of service, the controller changed the clearance to a visual approachVisual approach
The Federal Aviation Administration , defines a visual approach as one conducted under instrument flight rules , which authorizes the pilot to proceed visually and clear of clouds to the airport. The pilot must, at all times, have either the airport or the preceding aircraft in sight...
to runway 05. During this time, the navigator stated the distance to Maputo as 25-30km, the captain remarked that something was wrong, and the co-pilot said that the runway was not lit.
The crew radioed the Maputo controller and asked him to "check your runway lights". Around 21:21 the navigator stated the range to Maputo as 18-20km, and the flight repeated its request to Maputo to check runway lights. Upon reaching an altitude of 2,611 feet AGL
Above ground level
In aviation and atmospheric sciences, an altitude is said to be above ground level when it is measured with respect to the underlying ground surface. This is as opposed to above mean sea level , or in broadcast engineering, height above average terrain...
the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) sounded and remained on, and although the captain cursed, the descent continued.
During the last 22 seconds of the flight, the crew twice more radioed Maputo about the runway lights, affirming that they were not in sight, which was eventually acknowledged by the Maputo controller. Meanwhile the captain stated "cloudy, cloudy, cloudy" and the navigator exclaimed "no, no, there's nowhere to go, there's no NDBs
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...
, nothing!". The captain then added "Neither NDBs, nor ILS!", which were the last words recorded on the CVR. The aircraft first impacted terrain at 21:21:39, approximately 35 nautical miles (64.8 km) west of Maputo in a hilly region at an elevation of 2185 feet (666 m). At the time of the accident, it was a very dark night, a few minutes before moonrise. The last weather report passed to the aircraft indicated 10 kilometres (5.4 nmi) of visibility with 3/8 cloud cover at 1,800 feet.
Search and rescue
After being unable to contact the flight on the radio, the Maputo controller alerted authorities and Mozambican military units prepared for search and rescue. Since the last radio communication with the aircraft had been four minutes before its estimated time of arrival, the initial search area was defined around Maputo. Throughout the rest of the night and early morning helicopters flew search and rescue missions in an attempt to find the missing airplane, and in addition a marine search of Maputo BayMaputo Bay
Maputo Bay , formerly Delagoa Bay, Baía da Lagoa is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90 km long and 32 km wide....
was carried out, all without success.
The actual accident site was in a remote, inaccessible corner of South Africa, approximately 150 meters from the Mozambiquean border. The left wing hit a tree and then the aircraft had proceeded to break up before sliding down a hill, distributing the wreckage over a debris field 846m in length. A police officer was alerted at approximately 23:00 by a villager from Mbuzini
Mbuzini
Mbuzini is a village in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Situated near to the borders of Mozambique and Swaziland. This is where Mozambican president, Samora Machel, and 34 other passengers died in a fatal airplane crash in 1986...
, and the first responder to the scene was a member of the Komatipoort
Komatipoort
Komatipoort is a town situated at the confluence of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 8km from the Crocodile Bridge Gate into the Kruger Park, and just 5km from the Mozambique border and 65km from the Swazi border. It is a small, quiet town with some...
police station who arrived at 23:40. The first medical personnel reached the site at 01:00. Shortly after 04:00, a helicopter and medical crew from the South African Air Force base at Hoedspruit
AFB Hoedspruit
Air Force Base Hoedspruit is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is located adjacent to the Kruger National Park. In the late 1990s an unused portion of the base was converted into a civilian airport known as Eastgate Airport...
arrived and proceeded to evacuate the survivors to Nelspruit
Nelspruit
Nelspruit is a city of more than 500,000 people situated in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province . Located on the Crocodile River, Nelspruit lies about west of the Mozambique border and east of Johannesburg. The towns of Nelspruit are Kanyamazane and Pienaar...
hospital.
Of the five members of the flight crew, only the flight engineer survived. All four Mozambican cabin crew were fatally injured, as were 26 of the 35 passengers. According to the autopsy conducted by a South African pathologist, Machel died instantly. Besides Machel, other notable dead include Marxist scholar and diplomat Aquino de Bragança, Machels possible successor Fernando Honwana, press secretary Muradali Mamadhussein, photo-journalist Daniel Maquinasse, transport minister Alcantara Santos, and transport minister Alcantara Santos. One survivor died 2½ months after the crash from their injuries.
Reactions
Pik Botha later recalled being alerted to the crash at 04:30 by a phone call from the Minister of Law and Order, Louis le Grange, who stated that 30 to 40 on-board had been killed and Machel was apparent among the dead. According to Pik Botha, he telephoned and informed prime minister P. W. Botha; they both agreed that, considering the sensitivity of the situation, Pik Botha should accompany officials investigating the crash site. At 06:50, South Africa first notified the Mozambican Government that a plane headed to Maputo had crashed in South African territory near the border.In Mozambique the first indications of the tragedy were when Radio Mozambique switched to funeral music at 08:30. Some minutes later Marcelino dos Santos
Marcelino dos Santos
Marcelino dos Santos is a Mozambican poet, revolutionary, and statesman. As a young man he travelled to Portugal, and Paris, France for an education. He was a founding member of the Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique , in 1962; and served as the party's deputy president from 1969 to 1977...
, a member of the ruling FRELIMO Party, read a statement that President Machel's aircraft had not returned to Maputo as scheduled the previous evening. Dos Santos said authorities were analyzing the situation and appealed for people to both stay calm and remain vigilant. Mozambican security minister, Sergio Vieira, traveled to Mbuzini with Pik Botha, and proceeded to the crash site and personally identified Machel's body.
FRELIMO issued a second communique that evening confirming Machel's death. It did not accuse South Africa directly, however it did suggest that the crash had been criminal in origin. While over the following days and weeks Mozambican government officials would continue to refrain from overt statements of South African complicity, many other leaders in Africa stated outright that the apartheid government was responsible. Violence erupted in Harare, Zimbabwe, when cars driven by whites were attacked by angry demonstrators, prompting an editorial rebuke in Mozambique that declared that Machel had been committed to a non-racial Africa.
After lying in state at Maputo City Hall, Machel's funeral on October 28th was attended by more than 100 foreign delegations. Eulogized as a fighter who died in the struggle against apartheid, banners in the crowd made reference to South African involvement in the crash. Meanwhile, South African government officials also freely speculated as to the cause of the crash, suggesting weather or mechanical failure were to blame. Later Pik Botha declared that autopsies on the Soviet flight crew indicated that they had possibly been been intoxicated by alcohol.
On site
On scene the South African police located and took custody of the CVR and FDRs (the aircraft was equipped with both digital and magnetic FDRs). According to Pik Botha this was due to suspicions that they could be tampered with. Media access to the site was limited to a team from SABC-TVSouth African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa and provides 18 radio stations as well as 3 television broadcasts to the general public.-Early years:Radio broadcasting began in South Africa in 1923...
. Autopsies were conducted on only the four dead flight crew and three others and the bodies returned to Mozambique without the approval of the SACAA.
On arrival, Mozambican minister Sérgio Vieira asked for the documents that were taken from the aircraft to be handed to him. The SA commissioner of police, Johann Coetzee, had already made copies of these, and the documents were transferred to Vieira.
In accordance with the South African Air Control Act, aircraft accidents are required to be investigated by the SA Department of Transport. Thus Pik Botha consulted Hendrik Schoeman of the Department of Transport, once Machel’s death was confirmed. After Botha and Schoeman had visited the crash site, Botha cited special circumstances and other international protocols
Protocol (diplomacy)
In international politics, protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state.A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should be performed, especially in the field of diplomacy. In diplomatic services and governmental fields of endeavor protocols are often unwritten guidelines...
as reasons to become involved.
Cooperation
On a November 6 press conference Botha in addition announced that a document retrieved from the plane revealed a Mozambican-Zimbabwean plot to topple the Malawian government. Finally the three international teams signed a protocol of secrecy on November 14, 1986 as Botha’s selective announcements were straining relations between the teams and governments. Nevertheless Botha reported to BeeldBeeld
Beeld is an Afrikaans language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in five provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Die Beeld was an Afrikaans language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s...
newspaper on November 24, 1986 that he had listened to Maputo air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
’s recordings and studied a transcription of them. These he acquired from Foreign Affair’s representative in the South African team.
Director Renee van Zyl of the South African Civil Aviation Bureau then served a writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
on Botha and the SAP
South African Police
The South African Police was the country's police force until 1994. The SAP traced its origin to the Dutch Watch, a paramilitary organization formed by settlers in the Cape in 1655, initially to protect civilians against attack and later to maintain law and order...
, and received the two recorders unceremoniously at 15:45 on November 11, 1986. On October 24th a 26-member Soviet and Mozambican delegation traveled from Maputo to Komatipoort to join the South African team investigating the crash. Eventually agreement was reached for representatives of South Africa, Mozambique and the Soviet Union to jointly examine the CVR tapes under Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
auspices in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. The DFDR was taken to Moscow where the data from it was retrieved in the presence of representatives of all three countries.
Formation
According to South Africa approaches were made to both the United States National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
and the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Air Accidents Investigation Branch
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigates air accidents in the United Kingdom. It is a branch of the Department for Transport and is based on the grounds of Farnborough Airport near Aldershot, Rushmoor, Hampshire.-History:...
requesting official assistance in the investigation, however both agencies were not willing to become involved on in individual basis. Pik Botha would later state that on his recommendation, due to the mounting suspicions of South African culpability in the crash, the services of three foreign individuals were obtained, and these persons became three of the six members of the Board of Inquiry. These individuals were: Frank Borman
Frank Borman
Frank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so...
, an aeronautical engineer, former United States test pilot, astronaut and CEO of Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines was a major United States airline that existed from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.-History:...
, Geoffrey Wilkinson, former head of the British Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and Sir Edward Eveleigh, former Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Justice of Appeal
A Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
and member of the British Privy Council.
The three South African board members included J.J.S. Germishuys, former South African Commissioner for Civil Aviation, and P. van Hoven, chairman of the Airlines Association of South Africa. The inquiry was chaired by Cecil Margo
Cecil Margo
Judge Cecil Stanley Margo was a member of the South African judiciary. He was the fifth child of Saul Lewis Margo and Amelia Hilson, South African immigrants of eastern European Jewish descent.-Early life and studies:He received his law degree at the University of the Witwatersrand and was called...
, a member of the South African Supreme Court who had participated in several other high-profile aircraft accident investigations previously. Board members participated in the earlier fact-finding portion of the investigation, and conducted public hearings
at the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of South Africa
The Supreme Court of South Africa was a superior court of law in South Africa from 1910 to 1996. It was made up of various provincial and local divisions with jurisdiction over specific geographical areas, and an Appellate Division which was the highest appellate court in the country...
in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
from January 20th until January 26th, 1987. The board then adjourned to analyze the evidence and reach conclusions as to cause.
Analysis
The board concluded that the 37° turn was executed by the navigator using the autopilot's Doppler navigationDoppler radar
A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its reflection, then analyzing how the frequency of the returned signal has been...
mode, which when set maintained the desired heading while making corrections for wind drift. The navigator performed this turn after he saw the VOR signal indicating that the aircraft had intercepted the Maputo VOR 45° radial, the compass direction from Maputo on which the crew intended to turn and approach for a landing on runway 23. However the turn actually put aircraft on a path following a 45° radial from the VOR beacon at Matsapa Airport
Matsapha Airport
Matsapha Airport is an airport located near Manzini, a city in Manzini District of Swaziland.In 2011 it will be replaced by Sikhuphe International Airport and will be taken over by the army. The handover had been expected in 2010 but construction of the new airport has been delayed.-Facilities:The...
, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
.
Discounting the possibility of a false VOR beacon, an analysis of which was included in an appendix, the board considered it probable that the flight crew had inadvertently set the first of two VOR receivers on board to the Matsapa VOR frequency. This error was made more likely by the poor design of the instruments, the absence of back lighting of the selected frequencies, the fact the the two frequencies were unusually close, 112.7 MHz for Maputo and 112.3 MHz for Matsapa, and the similarity between the figures '7' and '3' on the Soviet instrumentation.
The board considered it "quite likely" that after the turn the captain re-tuned first VOR receiver to the ILS frequency, as the intrument was found in this state after the crash. For the final stages of flight, the aircraft was not following any VOR signal; instead the autopilot was tracking the 221° heading the navigator had set earlier during the turn. The post-accident settings of the second VOR receiver showed that it was displaying the airplane's position relative to Maputo and was correctly set to the Matupo VOR frequency, but was apparently not being used to guide the autopilot nor was it being monitored by the crew.
The captain's initial erroneous assumption that Maputo had suffered an electrical blackout was never reconsidered by the crew, despite evidence to the contrary. Throughout the descent the crew were in radio contact with the Maputo controller, who therefore had electrical power, and backup power generators were standard equipment for airport navigational aids. All the navigation aids at Maputo were determined by the board to be working at the time of the accident, although the aircraft was flying too far away and too low to receive the ILS and NDB signals. When announcing the distance remaining to Maputo the navigator was apparently referring to the Doppler navigation system, which was not accurate, rather than the DME equipment available on board which correctly displayed the distance to the Maupto DME beacon.
The crew were criticized for failing to perform any checklist items or navigational aid identification, as well as for the distractions and non-essential conversations
Sterile Cockpit Rule
The Sterile Cockpit Rule is an FAA regulation requiring pilots to refrain from non-essential activities during critical phases of flight, normally below 10,000 feet...
in the cockpit during the descent into Maputo. As a consequence of not announcing to the other crew members which navigational aids were being used, or the frequencies being set, mistakes could not be corrected by others through "cross-checking". Regarding it essential that the relatively large crew in the cockpit work as a well-integrated team
Crew Resource Management
Crew resource management or Cockpit resource management is a procedure and training system in systems where human error can have devastating effects. Used primarily for improving air safety, CRM focuses on interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the cockpit...
, the board concluded that "demonstrably they had not".
The board found that use of non-standard phraseology between the Maputo controller and the crew led to confusion about the status of the ILS signal and whether the runway lights were on. The flight crew's repeated requests to "check runway lights" were interpreted by the controller, based on the use of the word 'check' in civil aviation, as confirmation by the crew that they had the runway lights in sight. The aircraft had not refueled at Mbala before departing and did not have enough fuel remaining to reach the intended alternative airport in Beira, Mozambique
Beira Airport
Beira Airport is an airport in Beira, Mozambique .-Scheduled services:...
by the time it reached Maputo. This may have greatly increased the pressure on the crew to continue with the landing approach to Maputo despite the difficulties encountered.
Although the Maputo controller had specifically cleared the aircraft only to 3,000 ft and no lower until the runway lights were in sight, the descent continued below that height at a rate of 500 feet per minute, without the runway lights visible, in darkness and partially cloudy conditions. The only reaction to the warning by the GPWS, which sounded for 32 seconds, was the captain exclaiming "Damn it!" and a very slight nose-up pitch of the aircraft. The board concluded that even just seconds before the impact had the crew performed the required procedures for a GPWS alert when flying over hilly or unknown terrain, quickly raising the nose and increasing power, this would have prevented the crash. The captain was singled out for criticism by the board for the decision to continue the descent without any ground references and with the belief that all navigation aids at Maputo were not working, instead of climbing to the published minimum safe altitude
Minimum safe altitude
Minimum safe altitude is a concept used in planning and executing aircraft flights. It is an altitude which allows adequate vertical clearance from nearby terrain and manmade obstacles, and allows proper navigational functions.-IFR flights:...
for the Maputo area of 3,600 ft and verifying his position through other aids available, including his radar.
Findings
The board of inquiry determined that:In addition the board issued five safety recommendations which covered the use of and recurrent training in approved terminology in ATC communications for both ground and flight crews, monitoring of crew compliance with established procedures, a proposal that CVRs retain a record of the last hour of fight, rather than the standard of 30 minutes, and the importance of maintaining navigational aids to international standards.
The report was endorsed unanimously by the six members of the board and submitted to the South African Minister of Transport Affairs on July 2nd, 1987.
Mozambican submission
The Mozambican delegation, representing the State of registry of the aircraft, had a right by international treaty to review a draft of the report and submit their comments for consideration. The Mozambican team provided 11 pages of suggested corrections to the draft, some of which were adopted by the Board. In their submission the Mozambican delegation stated that according to the survivors the RSA police searched the aircraft for documents rather than tending to the injured passengers.Mozambique also provided a technical report prepared by Ron Chippindale
Ron Chippindale
Ronald "Ron" Chippindale was the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents in charge of the New Zealand Office of Air Accidents Investigations.He was born in Kettering, England, and moved to New Zealand in 1938...
of the New Zealand Office of Air Accidents Investigations examining the possibility of tampering with or replacing the genuine Maputo VOR signal with a decoy. His conclusions were that it would be "simple" to setup a mobile VOR, however in order to effectively replace the genuine signal the Maputo VOR would have to be turned off.
The Mozambican analysis of and findings from the evidence led them to conclude:
- The accident resulted from a critical situation which originated from the right turn away from the planned route.
- No explanation for the deviation was agreed upon by the three countries, and there was new evidence from the USSR that the aircraft turned to follow a false signal.
- The discrepancies from procedure of the Maputo controller and flight crew were not the main causes of the accident.
- The investigation should be continued in order to determine the origin of the VOR signal.
Soviet submission
The USSR, the state of manufacture of the aircraft, was given a draft of the final report and a chance to review and submit comments in accordance with ICAOInternational Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
convention. In their remarks, the USSR reiterated their endorsement of the previously agreed upon factual information contained in the draft. However regarding the analysis, conclusions and recommendations that followed, the Soviets stated the basic task of the investigation should be to determine the reasons for the 37° turn, which "remained unsolved in the report", and that conclusions of the draft based on the crew's errors were "totally ungrounded". They ended their remarks with a full rejection of the draft, calling it "worthless", and instead offering their own analysis and conclusions.
The Soviet delegation stated the theory that the crew had mistakenly selected the Matsapa VOR was contradicted by the known settings of the onboard navigation equipment and the timing of the turn. They said that the data recovered from the magnetic flight data recorder did not correspond to the path of an aircraft following the signal from the Matsapa VOR. The Soviet team submitted a technical report to support their belief the Matsapa VOR's signal was not strong enough at the point of the turn for the navigation equipment on-board the aircraft to receive it effectively, and further that the airplane was below the coverage of the VOR, therefore the signal from the Matsapa VOR could not have been the cause of the deviation.
According to the Soviets the other navigational aids at Maputo were not strong enough to reach the aircraft and therefore were of no help to the flight crew. A LAM Airlines Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
flying at around the same time as the accident aircraft reported receiving the Matupo VOR signal unusually early, at a distance of about 190 nautical miles (351.9 km). The Soviets stated that this was actually the false decoy beacon that was working with a higher signal level that the actual Maputo VOR.
The Soviets stated that there was an earlier ground proximity warning system
Ground Proximity Warning System
A ground proximity warning system is a system designed to alert pilots if their aircraft is in immediate danger of flying into the ground or an obstacle. The United States Federal Aviation Administration defines GPWS as a type of terrain awareness warning system...
(GPWS) alert about 4½ minutes before impact which was triggered by the signal from the decoy VOR beacon, and this false alert was interpreted by the flight crew as a systems fault in the GPWS. Receipt by the flight crew of the visual landing clearance from the Maputo controller implied a permission to descend below 3000ft according to ICAO procedures. When the GPWS sounded shortly before impact the crew, doubting its reliability, disregarded it as false, and believing they were over the low terrain continued their descent.
The Soviets concluded that:
- The aircraft's equipment performed with the required accuracy for a safe flight.
- The crew's qualifications and experience excluded the possibility that the deviation off course was as result of unpreparedness or unattentiveness. The crew were efficient in monitoring the aircraft and maintaining contact with the Maputo air traffic controller up the moment of impact.
- The crew and controller were prepared for an ILS approach to runway 23, however 96km away from Maupto the aircraft turned 37° to the right. This turn was a result of a false VOR signal situated beyond the limit of Maputo airport, and resulted in the airplane being led into hilly ground and its collision with terrain. This signal, also received by by a LAM Airlines Boeing 737, was the result of a premeditated action.
- The weather conditions along the route, at Maputo airport and at the alternative airport did not hamper the flight and was not a cause of the outcome.
Response by the Board
Reiterating their position that the most important event that led to the crash was the decision by the flight crew to continue their descent the board stated that:Claims of a decoy beacon
Suspicion of a false beaconMeaconing
Meaconing is the interception and rebroadcast of navigation signals. These signals are rebroadcast on the received frequency to confuse enemy navigation. Consequently, aircraft or ground stations are given inaccurate bearings. Meaconing is more of a concern to personnel in navigation ratings than...
in the Lebombos was first expressed by South African helicopter pilots on the morning following the crash, followed by a similar suggestion in an anonymous call to UPI
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
by a supposed SAAF
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
officer, a day later. The pilots' speculative remark was revealed to Sérgio Vieira, Mozambique's minister of security, in a rash comment by South African police commissioner Johann Coetzee Neither the Mozambican or Russian teams however, nor any witness testimony given, supplied any evidence or direct allegation concerning a secondary beacon to the Margo commission. The Margo commission's draft report then proposed Matsapa airfield's VOR
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
, combined with pilot error
Pilot error
Pilot error is a term used to describe the cause of an accident involving an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be principally or partially responsible...
, as playing a likely role in the trajectory followed by the aircraft. The USSR delegation disputed this, saying the signal was obscured by mountains.
A breakdown in communications followed, causing Gen. Earp of the South African Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
to authorise military pilots to penetrate Mozambique airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
to test the Matsapa theory. They returned with confirmation, though the final report relied on additional testimonies of commercial pilots who flew on C9-CAA's track. They likewise confirmed clear VOR signals from Matsapa. Mozambican pilot Dias, who supported the Matsapa theory, illustrated his interpretation of events to Mozambican officials on a flight from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
to Maputo. Mozambican authorities however remained unconvinced and suspended air controller de Jesus on May 5, 1998, for allegedly having been bribed to tamper with Maputo airport's beacon on the night of the crash.
TRC report 2001
Twelve years after the crash, when the apartheid regime had been replaced by a democratically-elected South African government, a special investigation into Machel's death was carried out in 2001 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).The TRC investigation was criticized for taking place in camera
In camera
In camera is a legal term meaning "in private". It is also sometimes termed in chambers or in curia.In camera describes court cases that the public and press are not admitted to...
and without any aviation specialist being present. The testimony was further led by a prominent radio journalist rather than a judge. The TRC's investigation did not find conclusive evidence to support or refute either of the earlier reports. Nonetheless, some pieces of circumstantial evidence collected by the TRC lead to questions being raised about a number of the Margo Commission's findings:
- A former Military Intelligence (MI) officer "Ben" alleged that Pik Botha and a number of high-ranking security officials held a meeting on October 18, 1986 at Skwamans, a secret security police base shared with MI operatives halfway between MbuziniMbuziniMbuzini is a village in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Situated near to the borders of Mozambique and Swaziland. This is where Mozambican president, Samora Machel, and 34 other passengers died in a fatal airplane crash in 1986...
and KomatipoortKomatipoortKomatipoort is a town situated at the confluence of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 8km from the Crocodile Bridge Gate into the Kruger Park, and just 5km from the Mozambique border and 65km from the Swazi border. It is a small, quiet town with some...
, on the day before the crash. They left late that night in a small plane and some, including Pik Botha, returned there after the crash. - C9-CAA entered a military and operational zone in South Africa (a restricted airspaceRestricted airspaceRestricted airspace is an area of airspace in which the local controlling authorities have determined that air traffic must be restricted for safety or security concerns...
, which was presumed to be under radarRadarRadar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
surveillance.) However, no warning that the plane was off course or in South African airspace was given to the aircraft. - South Africa's State Security CouncilState Security CouncilThe State Security Council presided over the National Security Management System of president P W Botha's apartheid regime in South Africa. Its function was to advise the government on formulating and executing national security policy. Botha himself chaired the SSC, which was served by a...
(SSC) minutes from January 1984 indicate that the Mozambican working groupWorking groupA working group is an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers working on new research activities that would be difficult to develop under traditional funding mechanisms . The lifespan of the WG can last anywhere between a few months and several years...
, including General Jac Buchner and Major Craig WilliamsonCraig WilliamsonCraig Michael Williamson , a former South African police major, was exposed as a spy in 1980, and was involved in a series of state-sponsored overseas bombings, burglaries, kidnappings, assassinations and propaganda during the apartheid era.-Infiltration:In the late 1970s, Craig Williamson had...
, discussed how to help RENAMO overthrow the FRELIMO government of Mozambique.
The TRC report concluded that the questions of a false beacon
VHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
and the absence of a warning from the South African authorities require "further investigation by an appropriate structure".
A police video in the TRC's possession shows South African foreign minister Pik Botha
Pik Botha
Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha is a former South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era...
telling journalists at the crash site that President Samora Machel and others killed in the crash were his and President P.W. Botha
Pieter Willem Botha
Pieter Willem Botha , commonly known as "P. W." and Die Groot Krokodil , was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989.First elected to Parliament in 1948, Botha was for eleven years head of the Afrikaner National Party and the...
's "very good friends", and that their deaths were therefore a tragedy for South Africa.
Confession by Hans Louw
In January 2003, the Sowetan Sunday World reported that an apartheid era killer and former CCBCivil Cooperation Bureau
The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau was a government-sponsored hit squad during the apartheid era that operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan...
member, Hans Louw, serving a 28-year term at Baviaanspoort Prison near Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, had confessed to participating in a plot to kill Machel. A false radio navigation
Radio navigation
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position on the Earth. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination.The basic principles are measurements from/to electric beacons, especially...
al beacon would have been used to lure the aircraft off course, with Louw forming part of an alleged backup team to shoot the aircraft down if it didn't crash. The newspaper also alleged that another of the plotters, former Rhodesian Selous Scout
Selous Scouts
The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army, which operated from 1973 until the introduction of majority rule in 1980. It was named after British explorer Frederick Courteney Selous , and their motto was pamwe chete, which, in the Shona language, roughly means "all...
, Edwin Mudingi, supported Louw's claim. However, after an investigation by the Scorpions
Scorpions (South Africa)
The Directorate of Special Operations was a multidisciplinary agency that investigated and prosecuted organised crime and corruption. It was a unit of The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa. Its staff of 536 consisted of some of the best police, financial, forensic and intelligence...
, a South African special police unit, it was reported in July 2003 and in October 2008 that they could find no evidence for South African complicity.
2006 inquiry
South African minister of Safety and Security, Charles NqakulaCharles Nqakula
Charles Nqakula is a South African politician who has been Minister of Defence since September 2008. He was Minister of Safety and Security from May 2002 to September 2008. Tipped as a contender for the future presidency of South Africa, he is concurrently national chairperson of the South African...
announced on February 2, 2006 that the Machel death crash inquiry would be reopened. He told reporters in parliament that all of South Africa's law enforcement agencies were expected to be involved in the probe, in co-operation with their Mozambican counterparts.
1996 Anniversary
A Mbuzini wreath laying ceremony on October 17 was attended by Graça Machel and addressed by Nelson Mandela. Mandela declared the initial simple memorial a South African national monument and hailed Machel as a universal hero whose life exemplified the highest ideals of internationalism and universality. Mandela cautiously claimed that the precise chain of events leading to Machel's death were uncertain and elusive, and repeated an earlier promise that no stone would be left unturned to establish the full truth.1999 monument
A Samora Machel MonumentSamora Machel Monument
The Samora Machel Monument in Mbuzini, near Komatipoort in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, marks the spot where the plane carrying the then-President of Mozambique crashed in 1986. It was declared a National Heritage Site in 2006....
was erected at the crash site. Designed by Mozambican architect, Jose Forjaz, at a cost to the South African government of 1.5 million Rand (US$ 300,000), the monument comprises 35 whistling wind pipes
Open tube
In the field of acoustics, a tone is created by the periodic vibrations of air. There are several ways in music to create such vibrations. One of these is to use a tube and to blow across the end. This creates a note of a given frequency, depending on the length of the tube and the pressure of the...
to symbolise each of the lives lost in the air crash. It was inaugurated on January 19, 1999 by Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, his wife Graça, and by President Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Alberto Chissano served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. Since stepping down as president, Chissano has become an elder statesman and is called upon by international bodies, such as the United Nations, to be an envoy or...
of Mozambique.
2006 anniversary
At the 20th anniversary of the crash on October 19, 2006, South African president, Thabo MbekiThabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He is also the brother of Moeletsi Mbeki...
declared the memorial a national heritage site. Leading up to the event the Mozambican president Guebuza
Armando Guebuza
Armando Emílio Guebuza is a Mozambican politician and the President of Mozambique since 2005.- Career :Armando Emílio Guebuza was born in 20 January 1943 in Portuguese East Africa...
, who chaired the Mozambican inquiry in 1986, repeated a commitment to discover the truth about the incident, while President Mbeki, in his state of the nation address of February 3, 2006, mentioned that a satisfactory explanation was still lacking.
Nelson Mandela's and Graça Machel's accusations
At the Mandela-Machel wedding ceremony on July 18, 1998, Mandela was however reported to have announced that Samora Machel was murdered, without reference to the South African board of enquiry's findings. Graça MachelGraça Machel
Graça Machel, DBE is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the third wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela and the widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel...
believes the air crash was no accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her late husband's killers. In May 1999, Graça Machel said in an interview on SABC
South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa and provides 18 radio stations as well as 3 television broadcasts to the general public.-Early years:Radio broadcasting began in South Africa in 1923...
TV's News Maker programme that she remained convinced the apartheid regime was responsible, and challenged former foreign minister Pik Botha
Pik Botha
Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha is a former South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era...
to come clean about Samora Machel's death. In reply, Botha told SABC TV on May 16, 1999 that although he had been one of the first people on the scene and was called on to identify Machel's body, the only facts he knew about the crash were the findings of the Margo Commission:
Economic impact
A study in the Quarterly Journal of EconomicsQuarterly Journal of Economics
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, or QJE, is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press and edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics. Its current editors are Robert J. Barro, Elhanan Helpman and Lawrence F. Katz...
reached the conclusions that the crash had immediate wider repercussions for Mozambique's economy. An annual 7.7% decline in GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
under Machel's communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
nationalisation
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
policies, reverted to growth averaging 2.4% per annum under the freer, multi-party democracy
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
in the tenure of his successor, Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Alberto Chissano served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. Since stepping down as president, Chissano has become an elder statesman and is called upon by international bodies, such as the United Nations, to be an envoy or...
.
Fiction
The theory that South African agents were involved in the death of Machel was the basis of a book, Blood Safari (AfrikaansAfrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
version was titled "Onsigbaar") by South African author Deon Meyer
Deon Meyer
Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, writing in Afrikaans. His books have been translated in 20 languages. He has also written numerous scripts for television and film.-Life and career:...
.
Further reading and external links
- A Morte de Samora Machel, João M. Cabrita, 2005. Novafrica, Maputo
- Photos of C9-CAA at Airliners.net