1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash

On 19 October 1986, a Tupolev Tu-134 jetliner with a Soviet crew carrying President Samora Machel and 43 others from Mbala, Zambia to the Mozambican capital Maputo crashed at Mbuzini, South Africa. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including several ministers and senior officials of the Mozambican government. A board of enquiry blamed the captain for failing to react to the Ground Proximity Warning System. Another theory was that the crew had set the aircraft's VOR receivers to the wrong frequency, causing them to receive signals from a different airport, or even that a false beacon had been used to lure the crew off course. While there was widespread suspicion in other nations that South Africa, which was hostile towards Machel's government at the time, was involved in the incident, no conclusive evidence was ever presented to support that allegation. All times in this article are local (UTC+2). The aeroplane being used to transport Machel that day, registration was manufactured by Tupolev in 1980 according to specifications for Mozambique. It had flown about 1,100 flying hours since the first flight, and had undergone its last major inspection in August 1984 in the Soviet Union. Service records indicated that it had been properly maintained, and data recovered from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) showed the aircraft and all its systems were operating normally. The flight crew of five consisted of captain Yuri Viktorovich Novodran (48), co-pilot Igor Petrovich Kartamyshev (29), flight engineer Vladimir B. Novoselov (37), navigator Oleg Nikolaevich Kudryashov (48), and radio operator Anatoly Shulipov (39), all of whom were Soviet state employees operating the aircraft for the Mozambican government. They were well experienced in both day and night flying in Mozambique and in landings at Maputo airport. On the morning of 19 October, Machel boarded the aeroplane at Maputo, and after a refuelling stop in Lusaka, Zambia arrived at Mbala at 11:00.