LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470

LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 was a scheduled international passenger service from Maputo, Mozambique, to Luanda, Angola, operated by an Embraer E190 twinjet registered C9-EMC and named Chaimite. On 29 November 2013, roughly halfway through the flight while cruising at about 38,000 feet in Botswanan airspace, the aircraft began a rapid, sustained descent at approximately 100 feet per second. Radar contact was lost at 3,000 feet after about six minutes of descent, and the aircraft crashed into Bwabwata National Park in northern Namibia during heavy rainfall. All 27 passengers and 6 crew members were killed instantly in the high-energy impact, which destroyed the aircraft. Namibian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Willy Bampton stated there were no survivors and that the aircraft was "burned to ashes."

The flight crew comprised Captain Herminio dos Santos Fernandes, 49, who had logged more than 9,000 total flight hours including 2,519 on the Embraer E190, and First Officer Grácio Gregório Chimuquile, 24, who had about 1,400 total hours with 101 on the E190. Both flight recorders were recovered within four days and sent to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board for analysis.

On 21 December 2013, the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) presented preliminary findings indicating that Captain Fernandes had a "clear intention" to crash the aircraft, manually changing autopilot settings after locking the cockpit door once the first officer left. The intended altitude was changed in three steps from 38,000 feet to 592 feet, below ground level, and autopilot speed was also manually adjusted. The cockpit voice recorder captured the captain's control inputs, alarms during the descent, and repeated banging on the locked door by the co-pilot, who had been unable to re-enter. Cabin crew policy requiring an attendant in the cockpit during a pilot's absence was reportedly not followed.

Investigators examining Captain Fernandes's background noted that his son had died in a suspected suicide in November 2012, with the crash occurring near the one-year anniversary; his daughter was hospitalized for heart surgery at the time; and his divorce proceedings had remained unresolved for over a decade.

The Mozambican Association of Air Operators (AMOPAR) disputed the IACM's conclusion, arguing the captain's actions matched Embraer's standard emergency procedures and that the Mozambican government had not complied with ICAO standards on disclosure of preliminary investigation findings.

On 15 April 2016, Namibia's Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigations (DAAI) released its final report, concluding that autopilot inputs made by the person believed to be the captain — who was alone in the cockpit after the person believed to be the co-pilot left for the lavatory — caused the aircraft to depart cruise flight and enter a sustained controlled descent leading to the crash. The DAAI's finding aligned with the IACM's earlier conclusion.