Status:
Date:	03 MAY 1963
Time:	13:27 UTC
Type:	Douglas DC-6B
Operator:	Air Afrique
Registration:	F-BIAO
C/n / msn:	45479/996
First flight:	1958
Engines:	4 Pratt & Whitney R-2800
Crew:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Passengers:	Fatalities: 48 / Occupants: 48
Total:	Fatalities: 55 / Occupants: 55
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Mt. Cameroon (Cameroon)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Douala Airport (DLA/FKKD), Cameroon
Destination airport:	Lagos/Ikeja International Airport (LOS/DNMM), Nigeria

Narrative:
The Air Afrique flight took off from Douala runway 12 at 13:16 GMT on an IFR flight plan to Lagos, cruising altitude 16500 feet. Last radio contact was with Kano at 13:25 when the crew estimated leaving the FIR around 13:38. Two minutes later the aircraft struck Mount Cameroon in a straight climb at 6500 feet (800m below the peak).

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was caused by a lack of caution on the part of the pilot-in-command who deliberately selected a route which led the aircraft into a dangerous and even prohibited sector at too low an altitude. Also, he neglected his navigation and transferred to instrument flight when approaching the mountain range."

Events:

Sources:
» ICAO Accident Digest No.15 - Volume I, Circular 78-AN/66 (51-58)