What happened
On the morning of the accident, an aircraft departed from Waterkloof AFB, located south of Pretoria, at approximately 07:45 local time. The flight was destined for Mthatha. During the cruise phase of the flight, while maintaining an altitude between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, the aircraft entered areas of significant weather instability.
While operating in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), the aircraft struck the terrain at Giant's Castle within the Drakensberg Mountain Range. The impact caused the airframe to disintegrate. Search efforts located the wreckage one day after the incident. There were 11 fatalities among the total number of occupants on board.
Findings
Investigations into the crash highlighted that the aircraft was flying below the required minimum safe altitude for that specific region, which was set at 13,800 feet. The primary contributing factor was the flight occurring below the minimum safe altitude while navigating through adverse weather conditions.