Kenya Air Force Plane KAF 718 Crashed After 27 Minutes in Air, Was in Rwanda Hours Earlier
New information has come to light regarding the tragic Kenya Air Force plane crash that took place on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Flight data reveals that the KAF 718 aircraft was in the air for a mere 27 minutes before it sadly went down in Kinango, Kwale County. Interestingly, this same plane had been spotted earlier that morning in Kigali, Rwanda.
According to flight tracking data from FlightAware, the aircraft, a Grob 120A, was first detected flying near Mombasa at 11:39 a.m., reaching speeds of 200 mph (around 322 km/h). Just a minute later, at 11:40 a.m., it was cruising at an altitude of 2,314 feet.
Logs examined by Skynews.co.ke indicate that the aircraft was flying over the Likoni–Shika Adabu area, located southwest of Mombasa town and near the Likoni-Kwale corridor, approximately 8 to 10 km inland. This information suggests that the plane had recently taken off and was flying low over the southern coast of Mombasa.
By 11:41 a.m., the plane had made its way into the airspace above Shimba Hills National Reserve in Kwale County. This area is situated just west of Diani Beach and southwest of Tiwi. At that moment, the aircraft had slightly lowered its altitude to 2,000 feet while keeping the same speed—perhaps gearing up for a training exercise or starting to show signs of a technical problem.
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Then, at 12:06 p.m.—roughly 15 minutes later—the aircraft was tracked again, now cruising at 12,100 feet and a reduced speed of 162 mph. It was flying over Kinango, not far from the eventual crash site in Ndavaya, which is about 40 km inland from Diani Beach.
The sudden altitude increase just moments before the crash has sparked a lot of questions. It might suggest an emergency climb or perhaps a mistake in the final data transmission through ADS-B, which is the system that aircraft use to share real-time flight information like speed, altitude, and location.
Looking deeper into the recent flight history, we find that the same aircraft had completed several short-haul flights across the coastal and central areas of Kenya earlier this month.
On the day of the incident, KAF 718 took off from Kigali International Airport in Rwanda at 8:29 a.m. and was seen arriving in Mombasa around 10:38 a.m.—less than two hours before the tragic crash.
Kenya Air Force Plane KAF 718 Crashed After 27 Minutes in Air, Was in Rwanda Hours Earlier
