What happened
The incident occurred during a night departure from Kisumu Airport. As the aircraft climbed following takeoff, the crew encountered significant technical difficulties attempting to retract the landing gear. An electrical failure within the undercarriage safety lock circuit prevented the gear from raising successfully. The captain decided to return to the airport after losing control of the aircraft. The plane subsequently crashed into the Gulf of Kavirondo, located approximately 13 kilometers off Kisumu. All 12 occupants were killed in the accident.
Findings
The official investigation concluded that the crash resulted from a combination of operational challenges and human factors. The pilot faced the difficulty of maintaining altitude and speed with a fully loaded aircraft while simultaneously dealing with the gear retraction issue under unfavorable night flying conditions. This situation led to an error in judgment, causing the aircraft to fly into the water.
A key contributory factor identified was pilot fatigue. The captain had flown 1,800 miles in the preceding 24 hours and had only six hours of sleep. The flight was undertaken at the special request of a senior passenger to reach South Africa as quickly as possible. No evidence of sabotage was found during the investigation.