What happened
On the morning of the accident, a Douglas DC-3 was operating a charter mission intended to transport United Nations personnel from Livingstone back to Elizabethville. During the departure from Salisbury Airport at 09:02 GMT, the aircraft experienced an immediate instability characterized by a sudden dip of the right wing. Although the crew managed a slow recovery, the plane climbed only to an altitude between 100 and 150 feet before entering a left-hand turn.
During this maneuver, the port propeller began windmilling. The bank angle increased steadily until the aircraft rolled into an inverted position, diving toward the ground. The impact occurred less than 600 yards southeast of the runway 06 threshold. While a fire ignited upon impact, it was rapidly suppressed. There were no passengers on board at the time of the crash. The accident resulted in two fatalities (the pilot and co-pilot) and one serious injury sustained by the flight attendant.
Findings
Investigations into the crash revealed that the crew misidentified the aircraft's handling characteristics as a power loss in the port engine. In response to this perceived failure, the port propeller was feathered. However, evidence showed that the port engine had not actually failed. The underlying issue stemmed from an improper pre-takeoff rudder trimmer check; specifically, the rudder trim was left at full left position during takeoff. This configuration caused a critical yaw that the pilot failed to correct, leading to the loss of control.