1974 Francistown air crash
Wenela Air Services Douglas DC-4 · The 1974 Francistown air crash occurred on 4 April 1974
From Francistown Airport, Botswana to Chileka International Airport (BLZ)
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
- 78 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
- 6
- 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-4
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-4
- 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
- A2-ZER
- Operator
- Wenela Air Services
- Onboard fatalities
- 78
- Route
- From Francistown Airport, BotswanaTo Chileka International Airport (BLZ)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Francistown, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1974 Francistown air crash occurred on 4 April 1974. On that day, a Wenela Air Services Douglas DC-4, which was to operate an international scheduled flight from Francistown Airport in Botswana to Chileka Airport in Malawi, had to make an off-airport emergency landing due to an engine failure, in which 78 of the 84 people on board died. It is the deadliest air accident in Botswana and the third-deadliest involving a Douglas DC-4.
Accident sequence
The accident occurred at 02:35 local time. Shortly after takeoff from Gaborone Airport, the aircraft experienced backfiring and misfiring, which resulted in a continuous descent. As a result of these events, the pilots were unable to climb the aircraft to a safe altitude, whereupon the DC-4 clipped treetops and, two minutes after lift-off, crashed to the ground following a stall 3600 metres beyond the end of the runway.
Investigation and cause
Cause
It was found that the aircraft had been partially misfuelled. Through a mix-up, the ground staff had poured kerosene into a fuel tank that was intended for aviation gasoline (avgas). As a result, the fuel with which the aircraft was refuelled was 25 to 30 percent contaminated.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall bei Francistown 1974” (revision 256669355, 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 bei Francistown 1974
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 256669355 · 2025-06-03 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q107512760
- 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 bei Francistown 1974" (page 11804916, revision 256669355), 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.