Pacific Western Airlines accident near Kisangani
Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules · The Pacific Western Airlines crash near Kisangani occurred on 21 November 1976
From Ostend-Bruges International Airport (OST) to Lubumbashi International Airport (FBM)
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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- 1
- 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 L-100-20 Hercules
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed 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
- C-FPWX
- Operator
- Pacific Western Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Ostend-Bruges International Airport (OST)To Lubumbashi International Airport (FBM)
Approximate · Estimated position: Kisangani, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Pacific Western Airlines crash near Kisangani occurred on 21 November 1976. In the accident, a Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules of Pacific Western Airlines with the aircraft registration C-FPWX flew into trees and termite mounds while attempting an emergency landing at Kisangani-Bangoka Airport in Zaire. Five of the six occupants of the aircraft died.
Accident sequence
The transport aircraft was operating a cargo flight from Ostend in Belgium to Lubumbashi in Zaire, the former colony of the Belgian Congo and today's Democratic Republic of the Congo. En route, a diversion to Kisangani-Bangoka Airport was made.
During the night-time approach to Kisangani there was fog. The aircraft had only a little kerosene on board. The crew attempted to carry out an emergency landing, as there was not enough fuel on board to divert to another airport.
Near Eastville the right wing grazed a 30-metre-tall tree. Parts of the wing were torn off in the process. The aircraft continued to descend and collided with several more trees and small termite mounds until it finally struck a large termite mound.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Pacific Western Airlines bei Kisangani” (revision 270521190, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Pacific Western Airlines bei Kisangani
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 270521190 · 2026-09-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q65235366
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Pacific Western Airlines bei Kisangani" (page 10755103, revision 270521190), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- 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 named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.