1999 Air Botswana ATR 42 crash

On 11 October 1999, an Air Botswana ATR 42-320 aircraft, registration A2-ABB, was taken without authorization from the Air Botswana section of the terminal at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana, by Chris Phatswe, an Air Botswana pilot who was at the time on medical leave after failing a physical examination two months earlier and being declared unfit to fly.

After taking off, Phatswe circled the airport for approximately two hours, radioing the control tower and stating his intention to kill himself. As a precaution, the airport was evacuated, and passengers later described considerable panic in the terminal. Officials in the control tower, in an effort led by General Tebogo Masire, then deputy commander of the Botswana Defence Force, attempted to persuade him to land.

During the standoff, Phatswe threatened to crash the aircraft into an Air Botswana building, citing a grudge against the airline's management. He demanded to speak with Ian Khama, then vice-president of Botswana. When control tower officials informed him that people were inside the Air Botswana building, he abandoned that threat. Shortly after being connected to Khama, the aircraft began running low on fuel, prompting Phatswe to carry out a landing. Rather than surrendering to airport security after landing, he taxied the aircraft at high speed toward the apron and deliberately collided it with two other parked ATR-42 aircraft.

All three aircraft were destroyed in the resulting fire, and Phatswe was killed. He was the only casualty of the incident. The three destroyed aircraft represented the entirety of Air Botswana's then-operational fleet; a fourth aircraft, a BAe-146, was grounded separately with technical problems at the time. As a result, the incident effectively crippled the flag carrier's operations.

According to the available account, Phatswe had repeatedly threatened airport authorities prior to the incident, stating he would kill himself, but had not given a specific reason for these threats. Reporting on the incident also noted that airport security at the time was considered lax, making it comparatively easy for an individual to take an aircraft without authorization.

No motive beyond the stated grudge against airline management was established in the available record, and no criminal charges are described in connection with the incident, as the person responsible died in the crash.