Air Force of Zimbabwe SF-260 Crash

An Air Force of Zimbabwe SF-260 trainer struck a power line and crashed in the Mlezu College area near Gweru, in the Midlands province, during a routine training flight. Both officers on board, a group captain and a wing commander, were killed; a funeral parade was later held at Josiah Tungamirai Air Base in Gweru. Zimbabwe took delivery of its SF-260F fleet in the late 1990s and has lost several of the Italian-built piston trainers in the intervening years, an attrition rate the service has attributed to the age of the fleet. The air force described the accident as a training accident and opened an inquiry.