Editing South African Airways (section)

==Accidents and incidents==
* On 16 June 1937, a [[Junkers Ju 52|Junkers Ju 52/3m]] (registration ZS-AKY) was destroyed by fire after it crashed on take-off at [[Port Elizabeth Airport]] following engine failure in two engines. All on board escaped. This was the airline's first accident in which passengers were injured.<ref name="FirmResolve">{{Cite book |last=Young |first=Mark D |title=A Firm resolve: A History of SAA Accidents and Incidents 1934–1987 |date=May 2007 |publisher=Laminar Publishing Associates, South Africa}}</ref>
* On 16 October 1937, a [[Junkers W 34|Junkers W34 fi]] (registration ZS-AEC), named ''[[George Grey|Sir George Grey]]'', crashed during a mail flight. The aeroplane was damaged beyond repair.<ref>{{cite web |title=Civil Aircraft Register – South Africa |url=http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_ZS-.htm |website=Golden Years of Aviation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107145418/http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_ZS-.htm |archive-date=2009-01-07 }} {{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=25552|title=Accident Junkers W.34fi ZS-AEC |website=Aviation Safety Network |access-date=12 June 2009|archive-date=24 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024165810/http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=25552|url-status=live}}</ref>
* On 28 March 1941, a [[Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar]] (registration ZS-AST) crashed at [[Elands Bay]], South Africa. All on board were killed on impact and in the post-crash fire.<ref name="FirmResolve" /><ref name="planecrashinfo">{{cite web |title= Airline/Operator "Sj - Sz" |url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/Airline/AL%20Sj-Sz.htm |publisher=Plane Crash Info |access-date=26 December 2006 |archive-date=4 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304070246/http://www.planecrashinfo.com/Airline/AL%20Sj-Sz.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On 5 January 1948, a [[Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar]] (registration ZS-ASW) touched down at [[Palmietfontein Airport|Palmietfontein]] too far along the runway for it to stop before running off the end. The [[Landing gear|undercarriage]] was ripped off and the hull damaged beyond repair. There were light injuries to passengers but no fatalities.<ref name="FirmResolve" />
* On 15 October 1951, a [[Douglas DC-3]] (registration ZS-AVJ), named ''Pardeberg'', flying in [[instrument meteorological conditions]] ''en route'' on a domestic flight from Port Elizabeth to Durban, flew into Mount Ingeli near Kokstad, Western [[KwaZulu-Natal]]. Seventeen people were killed. The board of inquiry determined that the unserviceability of ground-based radio navigational aids along the route was a major contributing factor.<ref name="FirmResolve" /><ref name="planecrashinfo" />
* On 15 September 1952, a [[Douglas DC-3]] (registration ZS-AVI) was damaged beyond repair while attempting to land at an unlit country airport at Carolina, South Africa after the crew became lost on a flight to Johannesburg from Livingstone, Zambia. After attempting to hold for thunderstorms to clear near their destination, the crew initiated a landing when their fuel ran low. The elevation of the airfield was mis-judged and the aircraft hit a rocky outcrop on final approach to the runway. No passengers or crew were killed or injured.<ref name="FirmResolve" />
* On 8 April 1954, a [[de Havilland Comet|de Havilland Comet I]] (registration G-ALYY), [[South African Airways Flight 201|Flight 201]], departed Rome for Cairo and Johannesburg. The aircraft crashed off the coast of Italy following a in-flight breakup, killing all 21 people on board. The wreckage was never recovered, but all known evidence pointed to a repeat of the recent accident to [[BOAC Flight 781]]. The aircraft was leased on charter from [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]] with an SAA crew.
* On 29 October 1960, a [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-344A]] (registration ZS-CKC), operating as Flight 218, executed a wheels-up landing at Nairobi Airport after damaging the undercarriage during an impact with the ground on its initial approach. No passengers or crew were killed or injured but the aircraft remained out of operation for many months until it was repaired and re-introduced into service.<ref name="FirmResolve" />
* On 6 March 1962, a [[Douglas DC-3]] (registration ZS-DJC) operating as Flight 512 crashed into a mountainside in the vicinity of [[Seymour, Eastern Cape]], South Africa, after the pilot insisted on conducting the flight under [[visual flight rules]] (VFR) while flying below low cloud above rising ground. The pilot and first officer were killed but the passengers and cabin staff survived.<ref name="FirmResolve" /><ref name="planecrashinfo" />
* On 30 June 1962, a [[Douglas DC-4]] (registration ZS-BMH) was involved in a mid-air collision with a military [[North American T-6 Texan|Harvard]] training aircraft near [[Durban]] airport. The military aircraft crashed but the crew managed to land the airliner without injury to passengers or crew despite losing a large part of the vertical stabiliser. The aircraft was the last DC-4 manufactured and was repaired and returned to service. It is currently owned by the South African Airways Museum Society and still flies.<ref name="FirmResolve" />
* On 13 March 1967, a [[Vickers Viscount]] 818 (registration ZS-CVA), christened ''Rietbok'', operating as [[South African Airways Flight 406|Flight 406]], crashed into the sea near [[Kayser's Beach]] during bad weather while on approach to [[East London, Eastern Cape]]. All twenty-five persons on board were killed.<ref name="FirmResolve" /><ref name="planecrashinfo" /> The accident investigation board stated 'The available data is not sufficient for the originating cause of the accident to be determined with any degree of probability'. However the board could not rule out the possibility that the pilot suffered a heart attack resulting in a loss of control.<ref>{{cite web |title=Error |url=http://www.caa.co.za/resource+center/accidents+%26+incid/reports/OldReports/Final+Report+ZS-CVA.pdf |website=www.caa.co.za |access-date=27 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031537/http://www.caa.co.za/resource+center/accidents+%26+incid/reports/OldReports/Final+Report+ZS-CVA.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On 20 April 1968, a six-week-old [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-344C]] (registration ZS-EUW), named ''Pretoria,'' operating [[South African Airways Flight 228|Flight SA228]], was lost near [[Windhoek]], [[South West Africa]] (now [[Namibia]]). The crew used a flap-retraction sequence from the 707-B series which removed flaps in larger increments than desirable for that stage of the flight, leading to a loss of lift at {{Convert|600|ft|m}} above ground level. The subsequent descent went undetected by the crew, leading to impact with the ground. 123 people died.<ref name="FirmResolve" /><ref name="planecrashinfo" />
* On 24 May 1972, the only successful hijacking of an SAA flight took place; a Boeing 727-100 (registration ZS-SBE) was en route from Salisbury, [[Rhodesia]] (now known as [[Harare]], Zimbabwe) to Johannesburg. Two Lebanese, Kamil and Yagi, took control of the aircraft by packing dynamite sticks on the hat-racks. They were armed with a pistol. They forced the pilot, Captain Blake Flemington, to return to Salisbury, where they landed and re-fuelled with 12 hostages remaining on board. The captain tricked them into thinking that they were en route to the Seychelles, while he was in fact heading for Blantyre, Malawi. After landing, the passengers used nightfall to enter the cockpit, where they climbed down the emergency escape rope. By the time the hijackers realised this, only the captain, one passenger, and a flight steward, Dirk Nel, remained on the aircraft. The two hijackers started fighting with each other for possession of the dynamite fuse. In the ensuing chaos, the three captives escaped, leaving the two hijackers on board. Members of the Malawi security forces started shooting and the two surrendered. They were jailed for two years on a charge of being in possession of an undeclared firearm on board an aircraft. After serving one year of their sentence, they were released.
[[File:South African Airways Boeing 747-200 Aragao-1.jpg|thumb|Boeing 747-244M ZS-SAS, photographed in 1986. ZS-SAS crashed in 1987 as [[South African Airways Flight 295]].]] 
* On 28 November 1987, a [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-200B Combi]] (registration ZS-SAS and named ''Helderberg''), operating as [[South African Airways Flight 295|Flight 295]], crashed in the Indian Ocean ''en route'' from [[Taipei]], Taiwan to Johannesburg via Mauritius, after a fire in the main cargo hold. The cause of the fire is undetermined, and a number of conspiracy theories (mostly pertaining to the nuclear armaments being produced by the South African government at the time) are in circulation surrounding the crash. Ignition of an [[ammonium perchlorate]] cargo, a chemical used as a missile propellant, is theorized by forensic scientists to have caused the fire. At the time, passenger jets of SAA were suspected to have illegally carried weapons cargo for [[Armscor (South Africa)|Armscor]], in an attempt to circumvent UN sanctions placed on apartheid-era South Africa.<ref name=":1" /> All 159 people on board were killed.<ref name="planecrashinfo" />
* On 17 June 2006, on South African Airways Flight 322, a [[Boeing 737 Next Generation|Boeing 737-800]] en route from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a 21-year-old Zimbabwean took a [[flight attendant]] hostage in an attempt to enter the aircraft's cockpit and divert the aircraft to [[Maputo]], Mozambique. He was subdued while still in the cabin. The pilots had been monitoring the incident via CCTV, and the aircraft returned to Cape Town where a police task force stormed the aircraft and arrested the suspect.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 June 2006 |title=Hijacking procedures top notch, says SAA |work=[[Cape Times]] |url=http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=49&fArticleId=3300793 |access-date=17 October 2007 |archive-date=3 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503101105/http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=49&fArticleId=3300793 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* On 6 November 2018, an [[Airbus A340|Airbus A340-600]] (ZS-SNF) operating Flight SA260 over [[Switzerland]], encountered an overspeed warning due to the aircraft entering a wind convergence zone. The aircraft was en route at FL380 over Switzerland about 40&nbsp;nm south-southeast of [[Zürich|Zurich]] (Switzerland) when the aircraft reached a speed of Mach 0.89. The pilot in command deactivated the autopilot and initiated a climb to FL400 in order to reduce the aircraft speed. The acceleration caused an Angle of Attack warning, which the flight crew misinterpreted as being a malfunction. Subsequently, two of the three AIRDUs were deactivated. This also deactivated the auto throttle and deactivated some protection, causing the aircraft to enter a near stall state. The situation was recovered at FL340, with the pilots saying that they temporarily lost control of the aircraft. The investigation revealed that the checklists were not followed and the pilots were not properly trained on handling overspeed events. The pilots were not informed that a bulletin addressing the Angle of Attack warning system was already implemented. They also found out that one of the copilots held a CPL instead of the ATPL required by the airline. The flight continued to Frankfurt for a safe landing, where the crew were interviewed by the German authorities. Germany's [[BFU (Germany)|BFU]], which led the investigation, reported the aircraft event as a serious incident.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Incident: SAA A346 over Switzerland on Nov 6th 2018, overspeed, dual ADR failure |url=https://avherald.com/h?article=4c0504fb&opt=0 |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=avherald.com |archive-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212073704/https://avherald.com/h?article=4c0504fb&opt=0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-03-01 |title=South African Airways pilot resigns over fake licence |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47420515 |access-date=2022-11-20 |archive-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212073706/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47420515 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kretschmer |first=Norman |date=12 June 2023 |title=Untersuchungsbericht [Aktenzeichen: BFU18-1626-FX] |trans-title=Investigation Report [file reference: BFU18-1626-FX] |url=https://www.bfu-web.de/DE/Publikationen/Untersuchungsberichte/2023/Bericht_18-1626-FX_A340_Clariden.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714065225/https://www.bfu-web.de/DE/Publikationen/Untersuchungsberichte/2023/Bericht_18-1626-FX_A340_Clariden.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 |archive-date=14 July 2023 |access-date=14 July 2023 |website=Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung - Abschlussberichte |language=DE}}</ref>
*On 24 February 2021, an [[Airbus A340|Airbus A340-600]] operating as Flight SA4272 sent from [[Johannesburg]] to [[Brussels]] to fetch COVID-19 vaccines encountered an "alpha floor event" sent by the [[ACARS]] unit of the plane. This was activated when the Airbus A340-600's envelope protection system activated to override the pilots to prevent the plane from stalling on take-off.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2021-03-23-saa-probed-after-extraordinarily-dangerous-take-off|title=SAA probed after 'extraordinarily dangerous' take-off|newspaper=Businesslive |access-date=23 March 2021|archive-date=23 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323043233/https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2021-03-23-saa-probed-after-extraordinarily-dangerous-take-off/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*On 12 November 2022, an [[Airbus A320 family|Airbus A320-200]] (ZS-SZJ) being towed collided into a parked [[FlySafair]] [[Boeing 737 Next Generation|Boeing 737-800]] (ZS-SJH) at [[O. R. Tambo International Airport]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=Citizen |date=2022-11-12 |title=FlySafair plane struck by SAA aircraft in parking accident at OR Tambo airport |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/flysafair-plane-saa-accident-or-tambo-airport-12-november-2022/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=The Citizen |language=en |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120134324/https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/flysafair-plane-saa-accident-or-tambo-airport-12-november-2022/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Head |first=Tom |date=2022-11-13 |title=SAA technician accused of 'sleeping' during OR Tambo collision |url=https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-or-tambo-collision-sleeping-saa-flysafair-13-november/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=The South African |language=en-ZA |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120135811/https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-or-tambo-collision-sleeping-saa-flysafair-13-november/ |url-status=live }}</ref> No passengers were on board either aircraft at the time. The FlySafair aircraft's empennage section and SAA aircraft's wing tip were damaged. As a result, both aircraft were rendered inoperable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Newsroom – South African Airways |url=https://www.flysaa.com/about-us/leading-carrier/media-center/media-releases/newsroom |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=flysaa.com |archive-date=7 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307130306/https://www.flysaa.com/about-us/leading-carrier/media-center/media-releases/newsroom |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mthethwa |first=Cebelihle |title=FlySafair aircraft struck by wingtip of SAA Airbus at OR Tambo airport |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/flysafair-aircraft-struck-by-wingtip-of-saa-airbus-at-or-tambo-airport-20221112 |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=News24 |language=en-US |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120134310/https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/flysafair-aircraft-struck-by-wingtip-of-saa-airbus-at-or-tambo-airport-20221112 |url-status=live }}</ref>