Air Rhodesia Flight RH827

Infobox Airliner accident
Name = Air Rhodesia Flight RH827
Crash

Image caption = "Umniati"
Date=February 12, 1979
Type=Civilian airliner shoot-down
Site=Vuti African Purchase Area
Coordinates=coord|16|25|S|29|26|E|type:landmark|display=inline,title
Fatalities=59
Aircraft Type=Vickers Viscount
Origin=Salisbury
Last stopover=Kariba
Destination=Salisbury
Operator=Air Rhodesia
Tail Number=
Passengers=55
Crew=4
Survivors=0

Air Rhodesia Flight RH827, "Umniati", was scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury that was shot down on 12 February 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile soon after take-off in similar circumstances to Flight RH825 five months earlier.

Incident Description

The flight's departure from Kariba had been delayed, so it had not climbed over the lake to get above the ceiling of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missles before heading for Salisbury. The aircraft was damaged by a Strela 2 missile and came down in rought terrain in the Vuti African Purchase Area east of Lake Kariba. [cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=B2Jp-k0WVWAC|title=Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman|author=Geoffrey Nyarota|date=2006|publisher=Zebra|date=2006|accessdate=2008-05-18] None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19790212-1|publisher=Aviation-Safety.net|title=Description of Air Rhodesia Flight RH827|accessdate=2008-02-08]

Countermeasures

Following the second incident, Air Rhodesia modified the exhaust pipes of the Viscount aircraft to reduce their heat signature, and painted the aircraft with a low-radiation paint.cite book|url=http://books.google.com.au/books?id=J9aDWeGoFKEC|title=Winds of Destruction|author=P. J. H. Petter-Bowyer|date=2003|isbn=141201204X|publisher=Trafford Publishing]

References