[6] On 11 October 1999, an Air Botswana pilot, Captain Chris Phatswe, commandeered a parked Aérospatiale ATR 42 aircraft A2-ABB without authorization in the early morning and took off.

In spite of all attempts to persuade him to land and discuss his grievances, he stated he was going to crash into some aircraft on the apron.

After a total flying time of about 2 hours, he did two loops and then crashed at 200 knots (370 km/h; 230 mph) into Air Botswana's two other ATR 42s parked on the apron.

Airline sources say the pilot had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000.

Air Botswana operations were crippled, as the airline temporarily only had one aircraft left – a BAe 146 that was grounded with technical problems.