1988 Botswana Government BAe-125 attempted shootdown

On 7 August 1988, the British Aerospace BAe-125-800A presidential plane of Government of Botswana was attacked by an Air Force of Angola MiG-23 fighter jet, as it was flying from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, Gaborone, Botswana, to Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, Luanda, Angola. The plane then made an emergency landing at an airstrip in Cuíto, Angola. All ten people on board, including motswana president Quett Masire, survived. Angolan government later admitted to have attacked the plane after mistaking it for an enemy aircraft.

Incident

The aircraft took off from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, Gaborone, Botswana, headed to Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, Luanda, Angola. Take off and climb went uneventful. As the aircraft was flying at flight level FL350 over southern Angola, and was transitioning from the airspace under the Cuíto air traffic control coordination to the one under the Luanda air traffic control, it was intercepted by a MiG-23 fighter jet of the Air Force of Angola. The fighter jet, whose pilot misidentified the BAe-125 as an enemy aircraft, fired two R-60 missiles at the presidential plane, with the first hitting engine number two and causing it to detach, and the second hitting the falling engine. The shrapnel blown by the missile explosion also shattered a window, causing an explosive decompression, and damaged the airplane's fuel tanks, causing a leak. Inside the plane shrapnel and debris injured president Masire lightly and chief Ikitseng more seriously. The force of the impact also threw a cabin engineer against Captain Scheefers, incapacitating the latter. First officer Rickets took control of the plane and started a diversion towards an airstrip near the city of Cuíto, Bié Province, Angola. During the descent the remaining parts of the engine detached, but a safe emergency landing was still carried out. After landing the injured were taken to the local hospital where they were treated by Cuban doctors stationed there during the civil war.