1968 Air Comores accident
de Havilland DH-114 Heron 1B · Loss of control on approach
From Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (HAH)
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
- 15 · 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
- 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
de Havilland DH-114 Heron 1B
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DH-114
- 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
- F-OCED
- Operator
- Air Comores
- Onboard fatalities
- 15
- Route
- From Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR)To Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (HAH)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1968 Air Comores crash occurred on 27 January 1968, when a de Havilland DH-114 Heron 1B on an international scheduled Air Comores flight from Dar es Salaam to Moroni crashed on final approach to Moroni Airport, killing 15 of the 16 people on board.
Accident sequence
The flight from Dar es Salaam to Moroni proceeded without particular incident until the landing approach to Moroni. On landing, the aircraft touched down with a right bank angle on the right side of the runway. The aircraft then bounced off the runway and rose into the air again. The right aileron struck a runway light located to the right of the runway. The captain increased engine thrust with the intention of going around. The aircraft then climbed with fully extended high-lift devices and an excessive pitch angle until it stalled. The Heron crashed against a rocky beach and fell into the sea. 15 of the 16 occupants were killed; only one passenger survived.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be that the captain had carried out the approach with an incorrectly configured aircraft. For this reason, the aircraft had descended below the glide path.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Air Comores 1968” (revision 258803275, 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 Air Comores 1968
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 258803275 · 2025-08-12 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q108511809
- 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 Air Comores 1968" (page 11916736, revision 258803275), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A scheduled international Air Comores passenger flight: an airline flight. The article: "a de Havilland DH-114 Heron 1B on an international scheduled Air Comores flight from Dar es Salaam to Moroni crashed on final approach to Moroni Airport"
- 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.