Air Rhodesia Flight 825

Infobox Airliner accident
Name = Air Rhodesia Flight RH825
Crash

Image caption =
Date=September 3, 1978
Type=Civilian airliner shoot-down
Site=West of Karoi
Coordinates=coord|16|47|S|29|5|E|type:landmark|display=inline,title
Fatalities=48 (38 in crash followed by the execution of 10 at the crash site)
Aircraft Type=Vickers Viscount
Origin=Salisbury
Last stopover=Kariba
Destination=Salisbury
Operator=Air Rhodesia
Tail Number=Airreg|VP|WAS
Passengers=52
Crew=4
Survivors=8

Air Rhodesia Flight RH825 was a scheduled flight flying from Kariba to Salisbury that was shot down on September 3 1978 by ZIPRA fighters using a SA-7 surface-to-air missile [cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=6628|title=Air Rhodesia- Accident & incidents|accessdate=2007-11-01|publisher= [http://aviation-safety.net aviation-safety.net] ]

Incident

The Vickers Viscount aircraft named "The Hunyani" was operating a scheduled service between Kariba and Salisbury. Five minutes after taking off from Kariba, passengers heard a loud bang from the starboard engine. At 5:10pm the commander, Captain John Hood, sent a distress call to air traffic control informing them that he had lost both starboard engines, and was going to crash. [cite news|publisher=The Times|date=1978-09-06|title=Lead Article]

Captain Hood managed to maintain control of the aircraft as it descended, and aimed it for a cotton field in the bush, west of Karoi in the Whamira Hills. The pilots told the passengers to brace for impact; seconds later, the fuselage and wings started scraping against the tops of trees, before the wheels touched down smoothly. However a 4 meter wide irrigation ditch that crossed the field caused the plane to pitch over and catch fire.

Eighteen of the fifty-six passengers survived the crash, with most of these having been seated in the rear. Five of the survivors went to a local village to ask for water. However upon returning, they heard African voices and automatic gunfire - ZIPRA guerrillas killed 10 of the survivors still at the aircraft before looting it. Three crash survivors who remained at the aircraft managed to avoid being killed by playing dead. [cite news|title=SHOT AT POINT BLANK RANGE|publisher=The Rhodesia Herald|date=1978-09-05]

Joshua Nkomo said in a BBC interview that his guerrillas had shot the aircraft down [cite journal|journal=Time Magazine|date=September 18, 1978|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916377,00.html|title=Seeds of Political Destruction] , saying that it was being used for military purposes, but denied killing the survivors. Five days after the disaster, the Rhodesian government confirmed that the plane had been shot down by a Strela 2 missile.

Air Rhodesia Flight RH827

Air Rhodesia Flight RH827, "Umniati", was another scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury that was shot down on 12 February 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile in similar circumstances to Flight RH825.

References

External links

* [http://home.iprimus.com.au/rob_rickards/viscounts/hunyani.htm The Hunyani Disaster]
* [http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air%20Rhodesia/Vickers%20782D%20Viscount/0119645/L/&width=850&height=665&sok=WHERE__%28airline_%3D_%27Air_Rhodesia%27%29_&sort=_order_by_photo_id_DESC_&photo_nr=5&prev_id=0643396&next_id=NEXTID Photograph of the aircraft] at Airliners.net