Lufthansa flight 540, a Boeing 747-100, crashed during takeoff from Nairobi International Airport, Kenya, killing 59 occupants; 98 survived the accident. This was the first fatal Boeing 747 accident. Boeing 747 D-ABYB was taking off for the last leg of the Frankfurt (FRA) – Nairobi (NBO) – Johannesburg (JNB) flight when the crew felt vibration or buffeting following lift off. The captain, suspecting wheel imbalance, raised the gear. A lack of acceleration forced the crew to lower the nose in order to maintain airspeed. The Boeing continued to descend however and contacted the ground 1120 m past the end of runway 24 and struck an elevated road 114 m further on. The aircraft broke up and caught fire before coming to rest 454 m past the initial point of impact. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The accident was caused by the crew initiating a take-off with the leading edge flaps retracted because the pneumatic system which operates them had not been switched on. This resulted in the aircraft becoming airborne in a partially stalled condition which the pilots did not identify in the short time available to them for recovery. Major contributory factors were the lack of warning of a critical condition of leading edge flap position and the failure of the crew to complete satisfactorily their checklist items.”