This Day in History: 15 October 1951
One of SAA’s early aircrafts, a Dakota, crashed into the Ingeli Mountain in Kokstad on 15 October 1951. It was operating a service from East London to Durban when it crashed, killing all seventeen passengers. It was SAA’s third fatal crash.
The Dakotas were replaced by the Hawker Siddeley 748 turbo-prop aircrafts in 1970. By 1971, all Dakotas had been phased out. Today, South Africa, has lower air fatalities when compared with other countries.