TAAG Flight 462

TAAG Flight 462 a Boeing 737-200 took off from Lubango Airport in Lubango, Angola, on a regular domestic service to Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda on November 8, 1983.[1][2] The aircraft had 126 passengers and four crew on board.[3]

TAAG Flight 462
A TAAG Angola Airlines Boeing 737-200 similar to the one involved.
Incident
Date8 November 1983 (1983-11-08)
SummaryClaimed shootdown, disputed

• Mechanical failure (Official)

• Shootdown (UNITA claim)
Sitenear Lubango Airport, Lubango, Angola
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-200
OperatorTAAG Angola Airlines
RegistrationD2-TBN
Flight originLubango Airport, Lubango, Angola
DestinationQuatro de Fevereiro Airport, Luanda, Angola
Passengers126
Crew4
Fatalities130
Injuries0
Survivors0

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a one-year-old Boeing 737-2M2 (registration D2-TBN, factory no. 22775, and serial no. 869) that had its maiden flight on April 29, 1982, and was delivered to TAAG Angola Airlines on May 6 the same year.[4] The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofan engines.[3]

Crash

The Boeing 737 was operating as Flight DT 462. The aircraft was at 200 feet (61 m) and climbing when it began to descend and turn left. The left wingtip hit the ground, and the aircraft broke apart and burst into flames. The wreckage came to rest 800 metres (2,600 ft) from the end of the runway at Lubango Airport. The crash killed all 130 people on board.[3]

Probable cause

UNITA guerillas claimed to have shot down the aircraft, which they believed to be carrying only military personnel, with a surface-to-air missile to protest Angola's government.[5][6][7] Post-crash investigation of the aircraft's wreckage by the Angolan authorities reported no conclusive evidence of missile damage, and the cause of the crash is officially considered to be a mechanical failure.[8]

References
  1. "150 feared killed in Angola plane crash". The Milwaukee Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
  2. TAAG Angola Airways, timetable October 1983 (the only regular or scheduled TAAG flight leaving Lugango Airport on 8. November 1983 was flight DT462)
  3. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-2M2 D2-TBN Lubango Airport (SDD)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
  4. "D2-TBN TAAG - Linhas Aereas de Angola Airlines Boeing 737-2M2(A) - cn 22775 / ln 869". Planespotters.net. Archived from the original on 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
  5. "Unita shoots down TAAG 737". Flight International. 19 November 1983. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012.
  6. "Planecrashinfo.com synopsis". www.planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  7. "ANGOLA JET CRASH SAID TO KILL 150 (Published 1983)". The New York Times. Associated Press. 1983-11-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  8. Elias, Bartholomew (2009-09-14). Airport and Aviation Security: U.S. Policy and Strategy in the Age of Global Terrorism. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 315. ISBN 978-1420070309.

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