South African Airways Flight 295 Tragedy

Incident Overview

• Date: November 27, 1987
• Aircraft: Boeing 747 Combi
• Total occupants: 159 (140 passengers, 19 crew)
• Route: Taipei, Taiwan to Johannesburg, South Africa (stopover in Mauritius)
• Event: Mid-flight fire breaks out, leading to crash
• Outcome: No survivors

Crew

• Captain David Ice: 49 years old, nearly 14,000 flight hours
• First Officer David Hamilton: 36 years old, over 7,000 flight hours
• Flight Engineer Giuseppe Belagarda: 45 years old, thousands of hours on the 747
• Relief Pilot Jeffrey Virchell: 37 years old
• Relief Flight Engineer Alan George Daniel: 34 years old

Flight Path

• Route restrictions due to South Africa's political situation
• Had to avoid Southeast Asian and African airspace
• Planned to fly south over the South China Sea, along the Vietnamese coast, then southwest to Mauritius

Key Events During Flight

• Dinner service near beginning of flight recorded on Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
• CVR only records final 30 minutes of flight normally
• First sign of trouble recorded by CVR: Popping circuit breakers, indicating fire in main deck cargo area
• Fire quickly damages electrical wiring, disables the CVR
• Emergency declared to Mauritius Air Traffic Control
• Pilots' emergency procedures ineffective; fire continues to spread

Theories and Mysteries

Conflicting Evidence on Fire's Timing

• Dinner Discussion on CVR: Suggests fire started hours before approaching Mauritius
• Position of the Aircraft: Fire potentially started closer to Mauritius based on declared emergency timing
• Missing ZUR Tapes: Radio station in Johannesburg (Zur) tapes for critical period are missing, raising suspicions

Possible Causes of Fire

• Lithium Batteries: Listed on cargo manifest, but deemed insufficient cause
• Illegally Smuggled Weapons: Theory points to South African Airways carrying military equipment for South Africa's war in Angola
• Extreme Fire Intensity: Suggests combustible materials not listed on the manifest were likely present

Final Moments

• Aircraft began descending rapidly
• Passengers moved to the front to escape the smoke
• Fire continued to worsen, causing electrical failures and structural damage
• Pilots attempted to navigate and communicate despite severe smoke
• Opened cabin door mid-flight to try to vent smoke
• Aircraft broke apart 100 miles from Mauritius, crashed into the ocean

Conclusion

• Investigation inconclusive due to conflicting evidence and destroyed records
• Conspiracy theories about the true cargo and causes persist
• Official cause of fire remains undetermined