On 26 March 1979, an

Ilyushin IL-18 The Ilyushin Il-18 (; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and wa ...

crashed during takeoff from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, killing all ten people on board.

Background

When Angola gained independence in 1975, power was in the hands of the

People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (, abbr. MPLA), from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Po ...

(MLPA), which was supported by the Soviet Union and the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. The

Zimbabwe African People's Union The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant communist organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with ...

(ZAPU), which fought for the abolition of apartheid in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

, also enjoyed the support of communist countries. For the planned ZAPU offensive, heavy weapons were delivered to the port of Luanda from East Germany by sea, which were planned to be further transported by air to

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

, Zambia, which bordered

(their government also supported ZAPU). As

TAAG Angola Airlines TAAG Angola Airlines E.P. () is a state-owned airline and flag carrier of Angola. Based in Luanda, the airline operates domestic services within Angola, medium-haul services in Africa and long-haul services to Brazil, Cuba, and Portugal. The a ...

could not transport these deliveries, an Il-18 cargo aircraft from Interflug was chartered instead, which was supposed to carry a total of 500 tons of weapons. Because the transportation of such cargo was prohibited by international agreements, the operation was carried out in secrecy. The plane arrived in Luanda, where the crew and technical staff were supposed to stay until the mission was completed.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-18D (registered as DM-STL) that was built and delivered to Interflug in 1966 as a passenger aircraft. In 1974, it was converted to an Il-18Gr freighter. The crew consisted of captain Dieter Hartmann (44), first officer Jochen Wilsdorf (29), navigator Horst Umlauft (45), and flight engineer Frank-Rolf John (35).

Accident

The aircraft took off with a take-off weight of 60.5 tons. 56 seconds into the takeoff roll, engine #2 failed. The takeoff was rejected, but there was insufficient runway remaining. The aircraft overran the end of the runway at high speed, collided with the instrument landing system antennas and burst into flames. All 10 people on board were killed.

Investigation

The investigation was carried out by the airline led by Interflug's CEO, Klaus Henckes. The commission found that the decision to abort the takeoff was inappropriate, since the aircraft had aborted its takeoff after V₁ at . The V₁ speed of the accident flight was , but the takeoff was aborted at . Captain Hartmann attempted to rotate the aircraft despite the failure, but then rejected the takeoff, presumably concerned that the engines would not provide enough thrust.

Aftermath

Due to the classified nature of the cargo, Angola's report to ICAO stated that the aircraft was carrying humanitarian aid. The

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...

decided to continue the cargo transfer operation and sent another Ilyushin Il-18 (registration DM-STP) on 2 April 1979.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Angola Aviation accidents and incidents in Angola Airliner accidents and incidents involving runway overruns Interflug accidents and incidents Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 Accidents and incidents involving the Ilyushin Il-18 1979 in Angola March 1979 in Africa Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error March 1979