Sabena accident near Léopoldville
Douglas DC-3/C-47B-5-DK · The Sabena accident near Léopoldville occurred on 27 August 1949
From Ndjili International Airport (FIH) 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
- 15
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Douglas DC-3/C-47B-5-DK
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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
- OO-CBK
- Operator
- Sabena
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Ndjili International Airport (FIH)To Lubumbashi International Airport (FBM)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Kinshasa, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Sabena accident near Léopoldville occurred on 27 August 1949. On that day a Douglas DC-3/C-47B-5-DK of Sabena (OO-CBK), which was to operate a domestic scheduled flight from Léopoldville to Elizabethville, crashed during the initial climb phase. Five of the 20 people on board were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
The accident occurred at 07:45 in the morning. Shortly after takeoff from Leopoldville Airport, the aircraft did not achieve the intended climb performance. While the aircraft was flying a shallow right turn, a stall occurred and the aircraft crashed, overturned and came to rest on the top of its fuselage. The three-member crew was killed in the accident, and two passengers also died.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation found that a loss of engine power had occurred after takeoff. It was found that the fuel was contaminated with water. In addition, heavy lead deposits were discovered on the ignition leads. It was presumed that one of these factors – or their combination – had caused the loss of power.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Sabena bei Léopoldville” (revision 240766289, 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 Sabena bei Léopoldville
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 240766289 · 2024-01-02 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q106606153
- 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 Sabena bei Léopoldville" (page 11741875, revision 240766289), 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
- "scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
- 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.