Somali Airlines Flight 40

Investigation

Two days after the crash, Siad Barre ordered that a commission of inquiry be created. Preliminary investigations suggested that a technical fault caused the crash. According to Associated Press, the aircraft crashed after it caught fire in flight while attempting to return to Mogadishu after it had developed technical problems. In 1982, it was reported that no cause for the crash was given.

In 2021, according to Hiiraan Online, sources familiar with the accident said that the aircraft's attitude indicator (AI), a flight instrument which guides the pilot by providing information on the aircraft's pitch and bank angles relative to Earth's horizon, was faulty. However, Hiiraan Online stated that there was no correlation between the fault and the accident because, even if the aircraft's power fails, it can still function as it has standby AIs.

According to Hiiraan Online, aviation experts said that an engineer, Ali Foodade, was not needed as no maintenance takes place while the aircraft is in the air. Additionally, an engineer, Ahmed Osman, was already in Hargeisa waiting for the arrival of the flight. Speaking to Hiiraan Online, Ahmed Osman stated that "[he] was deeply shocked when [he] heard the aircraft had crashed." He also added that there was operationally no need for Ali Foodade to board the aircraft in Mogadishu.

According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), eight minutes after taking off from Mogadishu, the aircraft entered a spiral dive after encountering strong vertical gusts. During the dive, loads increased to approximately 5.76 g, exceeding the design stress limits of the Fokker F27, which caused its right wing to separate. Airdisaster.com wrote that the flight crew were believed to have erred in taking off during known thunderstorm conditions. According to Antonio Bordoni in his 1997 book Airlife's Register of Aircraft Accidents, the aircraft crashed after encountering turbulence that "exceeded [the] design stress limits of [the] aircraft".

However, Hiiraan Online wrote that other accounts noted that "the pilot may have become disoriented and could not recover from an unusual attitude". Additionally, Hiiraan Online stated that ASN's reasoning was contestable "on account of the weather in Mogadishu in July. There are hardly any thunderstorms in Mogadishu in July, save for light showers. The sky is relatively clear; thus, the pilot's thought of facing a storm is not feasible."

Peter Scott Bridges wrote in 2000 that the aircraft was "barely functioning" and that the pilot had refused to fly the aircraft until he was told to either take off or go to jail.