TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462


The 1983 TAAG Angola Airlines Boeing 737 crash occurred just after a Boeing 737-200 took off from Lubango Airport in Lubango, Angola, on a regular domestic service as Flight DT 462 to Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda on November 8, 1983. The aircraft had 126 passengers and four crew on board.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a one-year-old Boeing 737-2M2 that had its maiden flight on April 29, 1982 and was delivered to TAAG Angola Airlines on May 6 the same year. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofan engines.

Crash

The aircraft was at 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 from the end of the runway at Lubango Airport. The crash killed all 130 people on board.

Probable cause

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. 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.