TAAG Flight 462

TAAG Flight 462

A TAAG Angola Airlines Boeing 737-200 similar to the one involved.
Incident
Date	8 November 1983 (1983-11-08)
Summary	Claimed shootdown, disputed • Mechanical failure (Official) • Shootdown (UNITA claim)
Site	Near Lubango Airport, Lubango, Angola
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-200
Operator	TAAG Angola Airlines
Registration	D2-TBN
Flight origin	Lubango Airport, Lubango, Angola
Destination	Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, Luanda, Angola
Occupants	130
Passengers	126
Crew	4
Fatalities	130
Survivors	0

TAAG Flight 462 was a TAAG Angola Airlines flight which crashed just after the 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. All 130 occupants onboard were killed.

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. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofan engines.

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.

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. 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.