1989 Jamba Lockheed Hercules crash
Tepper Aviation for CIA Lockheed Hercules L-100-20 · Undetermined; possible CFIT
From Kamina Air Base (FZSA) to Jamba, Cuando Cubango, Angola
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 18
- Survivors
- 6
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Lockheed Hercules L-100-20
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed Hercules L-100
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N9205T
- Operator
- Tepper Aviation for CIA
- Onboard fatalities
- 12
- Route
- From Kamina Air Base (FZSA)To Jamba, Cuando Cubango, Angola
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article's coordinates are more than 250 km from Jamba, Cuando, the place its infobox names.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1989 Jamba Hercules crash was an air accident involving a CIA Lockheed Hercules L-100 aircraft that crashed on final approach to Jamba, Cuando Cubango, Angola, on 27 November 1989 while secretly delivering weapons and guerrillas to a US-funded insurgency as part of a long-term secret operation to arm UNITA.
The flight originated at Kamina Air Base, Zaire, the hub for the secret CIA supply-line to UNITA, and was attempting a low-level approach at night. The aircraft was owned by CIA front company Tepper Aviation.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The crash was attributed to pilot error by US officials and by a UNITA spokesperson. The CIA later reportedly "seemed to amend its findings, in part to mollify [the pilot's] surviving family. There was talk of a faulty altimeter or other instrument."
The Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives reported:
Don Rogers, who had worked at Tepper Aviation (and related CIA front company St. Lucia Airways), and had flown similar missions to Jamba, and knew several of the people involved wrote:
Text from the Wikipedia article “1989 Jamba Lockheed Hercules crash” (revision 1366544822, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1989 Jamba Lockheed Hercules crash
- Revision
- 1366544822 · 2026-07-28 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4585232
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1989 Jamba Lockheed Hercules crash" (page 34296259, revision 1366544822)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates and infobox site disagree
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.