SAA flight 295 | Helderberg crash

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).

What happened?

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.

Aircraft

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.

Cargo

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.

People on board

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.

Flight route

Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (Taipei, Taiwan) to Johannesburg Jan Smuts International Airport (South Africa, now known as O.R. Tambo International Airport).

Communication with Mauritius Air Traffic Control

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)

Fire

A graphite tennis racquet which had melted, indicated that the fire was at least 600 degrees celcius (the melting point of graphite).

Time of crash

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.

Investigator

The lead investigator was Rennie van Zyl.

Resources

Here's some useful resources providing information about SAA flight 295.

Cargo conspiracy

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

Wikipedia writeup of SAA flight 295.

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