On 15 July 1960, at 09:04, Ethiopian Air Lines Flight 372, a

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...

registered as ET-T-18, took off from

Bulki Bulki is a town in south-western Ethiopia. It sits on a narrow ridge, high above the town of Sawla, in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region. It is the administrative center of Geze Gofa woreda. Base ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, on a short-haul flight to Aba Segud Airport,

Jimma Jimma () is the largest city in southwestern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of . Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administrativ ...

, Ethiopia. There were eight passengers, three crew and a cargo of coffee on board. At 09:40, the pilot requested the activation of the Jimma non-directional beacon (NDB) to assist his navigation. There was no further contact with the flight. The aircraft was found to have crashed at 9,400 feet into the side of a mountain south of Jimma, killing one of the pilots and leaving the passengers and remaining crew injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Cause

It was determined that the accident was caused by the following: :1. The pilot misjudged the weather conditions, in that he continued to fly into deteriorating weather conditions while trying to maintain

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

. :2. The pilot misjudged the performance capabilities of the aircraft, in that he attempted to climb at a speed below the minimum safe climbing speed of the aircraft.

References

{{coord missing, Ethiopia

372 __NOTOC__ Year 372 ( CCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Modestus and Arintheus (or, less frequently, year 1125 ' ...

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1960 Aviation accidents and incidents in Ethiopia 1960 in Ethiopia July 1960 events in Africa Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas C-47 Skytrain 1960 disasters in Ethiopia