On the 28th November 1987 SAA (South African Airways) flight 295 (a commercial flight) crashed into the Indian Ocean near the island of Mauritius (with everybody on board dieing), whilst on its way from Taipei to Johannesburg (via Mauritius).
Nine hours into the flight the relief crew took over and started preparing for a stop on the island of Mauritius. Less than an hour before flight 295's stop in Mauritius (but more than 300km away) the smoke alarms went off, signalling smoke in the cargo hold on the main deck, directly behind the last row of passengers. When the crew get to the fire it is raging. Whilst the crew try to extinguish the fire, passengers were having trouble breathing through the toxic fumes. Captain Uys requested a full emergency (from the Mauritius Air Traffic Control) and initiated an emergency descent. Following a checklist to get rid of the noxious smoke, Captain Uys first recirculated air in the cabin (which had the unintended consequence of introducing the noxious gases into the passenger cabin) and then at 4500m (an altitude where passengers can breathe the outside air) opened cabin doors to let toxic gases out...but this had the unwanted consequence of providing oxygen to feed the fire. As the crew struggled to land the plane, some passengers died from smoke inhalation. Three minutes after the last communication with Mauritian Air Traffic Control, the Helderberg crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing those passengers who were still alive.
The aircraft, called the "Helderberg", was a Boeing 747-244B Combi (short for combination), a class of Boeing which allows for cargo and passengers to be loaded on the same deck (there is a cargo area below the passenger deck as well as behind the last row of passengers). The cockpit sits one level above the cabin. The fire was one of the few that have occurred on widebody aircraft and the first ever on a 747 Combi. SAA discontinued its use of the 747 Combi, following the accident, and the FAA created new standards for the 747 Combi which made it economically non-viable.
47 tons of cargo had been loaded onto the plane. A surprise inspection in Taipei was carrried out by a Taiwanese official, who did not find anything suspicious amongst the cargo.
159 people. Captain was Dawie Uys. The 159 people included 71 South Africans, 30 citizens of the Republic of China, 47 Japanese, 2 Mauritian, 2 Hong Kong, 2 Australian, 1 Danish, 1 West German, 1 South Korean, 1 Netherlands and 1 UK citizen. Notable passengers included Kazuharu Sonoda of Magic Dragon fame, and his wife Mayumi Sonoda.
Eight bodies were found in the water, all suffering from extreme trauma, and all showing traces of soot in their tracheae. At least two of the passengers died from smoke inhalation.
Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (Taipei, Taiwan) to Johannesburg Jan Smuts International Airport (South Africa, now known as O.R. Tambo International Airport).
Time |
Speaker |
Dialog |
---|---|---|
23:48:51 |
295 |
Eh, Mauritius, Mauritius, Springbok Two Niner Five |
23:49:00 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five, eh, Mauritius, eh, good morning, eh, go ahead |
23:49:07 |
295 |
Eh, good morning, we have, eh, a smoke, eh, eh, problem and we're doing emergency descent to level one five, eh, one four zero |
23:49:18 |
ATC |
Confirm you wish to descend to flight level one four zero |
23:49 20 |
295 |
Ja, we have already commenced, an, due to a smoke problem in the aeroplane |
23:49:25 |
ATC |
Eh, roger, you are clear to descend immediately to flight level one four zero |
23:49:30 |
295 |
Roger, we will appreciate if you can alert, an, fire, ehp, ehp eh, eh |
23:49:40 |
ATC |
Do you wish to, eh, do you request a full emergency? |
23:49:48 |
295 |
Okay Joe, kan jy...vir ons (Okay Joe can you...for us) |
23:49:51 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five, Plaisance |
23:49:54 |
295 |
Sorry, go ahead |
23:49:56 |
ATC |
Do you, eh, request a full emergency please, a full emergency? |
23:50:00 |
295 |
Affirmative, that's Charlie Charlie |
23:50:02 |
ATC |
Roger, I declare a full emergency, roger |
23:50:04 |
295 |
Thank |
23:50:40 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five, Plaisance |
23:50:44 |
295 |
Eh, go ahead |
23:50:46 |
ATC |
Request your actual position please and your DME distance? |
23:50:51 |
295 |
Eh, we haven't got the DME yet |
23:50:55 |
ATC |
Eh, roger and your actual position please. |
23:51:00 |
295 |
Eh, say again |
23:51:02 |
ATC |
Your actual position |
23:51:08 |
295 |
Now we've lost a lot of electrics, we haven't got anything on the on the aircraft now |
23:51:12 |
ATC |
Eh, roger, I declare a full emergency immediately |
23:51:15 |
295 |
Affirmative |
23:51:18 |
ATC |
Roger |
23:52:19 |
ATC |
Eh, Springbok Two Nine Five, do you have an Echo Tango Alfa Plaisance please? |
23:52:30 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five, Plaisance |
23:52:32 |
295 |
Ja, Plaisance |
23:52:33 |
ATC |
Do you have an Echo Tango Alfa Plaisance please? |
23:52:36 |
295 |
Ja, eh, zero zero, eh eh eh three zero |
23:52:40 |
ATC |
Roger, zero zero three zero, thank you |
23:52:50 |
295 |
Hey Joe, shut down the oxygen left |
23:52:52 |
ATC |
Sorry, say again please |
00:01:34 |
295 |
Unintelligible transmission |
00:01:36 |
295 |
Unintelligible transmission |
00:01:45 |
295 |
Unintelligble transmission |
00:01:57 |
295 |
Unintelligble transmission |
00:02:10 |
295 |
Unintelligble transmission |
00:02:14 |
295 |
Unintelligble transmission |
00:02:25 |
295 |
Carrier wave only |
00:02:38 |
295 |
Eh Plaisance, Springbok Two Nine Five, do (did) you copy? |
00:02:41 |
ATC |
Eh negative, Two Nine Five, say again please, say again |
00:02:43 |
295 |
We're now sixty five miles |
00:02:45 |
ATC |
Confirm sixty five miles |
00:02:47 |
295 |
Ja, affirmative Charlie Charlie3. Clearance and weather info |
00:02:50 |
ATC |
Eh, Roger, Springbok eh Two Nine Five, eh re you're recleared flight level five zero. Recleared flight level five zero |
00:02:58 |
295 |
Roger, five zero |
00:03:00 |
ATC |
And, Springbok Two Nine Five copy actual weather Plaisance Copy actual weather Plaisance. The wind one one zero degrees zero five knots. The visibility above one zero kilometres. And we have a precipitation in sight to the north. Clouds, five octas one six zero zero, one octa five thousand feet. Temperature is twenty two, two two. And the QNH one zero one eight hectopascals, one zero one eight over |
00:03:28 |
295 |
Roger, one zero one eight |
00:03:31 |
ATC |
Affirmative, eh and both runways available if you wish |
00:03:43 |
ATC |
And two nine five, I request pilot's intention |
00:03:46 |
295 |
Eh, we'd like to track in eh, on eh one three |
00:03:51 |
ATC |
Confirm runway one four |
00:03:54 |
295 |
Charlie Charlie |
00:03:56 |
ATC |
Affirmative and you're cleared, eh direct to Foxtrot Foxtrot. You report approaching five zero |
00:04:02 |
295 |
Kay |
00:08:00 |
ATC |
Two Nine Five, Plaisance |
00:08:11 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five, Plaisance |
00:08:35 |
ATC |
Springbok Two Nine Five Plaisance (No answer) |
A graphite tennis racquet which had melted, indicated that the fire was at least 600 degrees celcius (the melting point of graphite).
A wristwatch found in debris (which was part of the baggage) which had stopped gave investigators the probable time of impact as 3 minutes of Air Traffic Control's last communication with the Helderberg.
The lead investigator was Rennie van Zyl.
Here's some useful resources providing information about SAA flight 295.
The drama of SAA flight 295 is captured in a documentary called "Cargo conspiracy".
Part 1 of Cargo Conspiracy
Part 2 of Cargo Conspiracy
Part 3 of Cargo Conspiracy
Part 4 of Cargo Conspiracy
Part 5 of Cargo Conspiracy
Wikipedia writeup of SAA flight 295.
SAA pilot gets stuck in the sand