Andrew Joet Mukooza (21 July 1944 – 24 April 1979) was a Ugandan military officer and fighter pilot who served as the last head of the Uganda Army Air Force before its destruction during the Uganda–Tanzania War.

When the Uganda–Tanzania War broke out, Mukooza initially flew missions as a fighter pilot and became head of the Uganda Army Air Force when the latter began to disintegrate amid heavy combat losses, defections, and desertions.

Mukooza survived the subsequent political purges, and was selected as one of the pilots of Amin's new Grumman Gulfstream II private jet.

[2] To learn how to fly the Gulfstream II, Mukooza and three other pilots were sent to the United States to train at the Flight Safety Academy, Savannah, and acquired commercial licences at Vero Beach.

He received further training at the local airport by Grumman captain Tom Friedrich, while Miriam started to work at the Entebbe Grade A hospital.

One of the most serious coup attempts took place in June 1977, as restive members of the Uganda Army plotted with Ugandan exiles to murder Amin.

Just hours before the coup plotters wanted to strike, Uganda's secret service, the State Research Bureau (SRB), was informed and saved Amin's life.

[5][6] Long-standing tensions between Uganda and Tanzania resulted in open warfare in late 1978, following the Ugandan military invasion of the Kagera salient under unclear circumstances.

Gore's fate is unclear; he either fled to Sudan[8] or was killed in an ambush,[9] leaving Mukooza as acting commander of the Uganda Army Air Force.

As the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) approached Entebbe, Mukooza fled the town with a helicopter on 6 April 1979, relocating to Kimaka in Jinja.

When Mukooza arrived at Kampala's Nile Mansions, he was escorted to the office of David Oyite-Ojok, the Uganda National Liberation Army's chief of staff.

Oyite-Ojok angrily asked Mukooza why he had not joined Bazaalaki's old plot to kill Amin in 1977, prompting the pilot to respond that he had only followed his professional code of conduct as soldier.