JANIS KINNEAR
Staff Reporter
ONE OF the men who walked away uninjured from a helicopter crash at UCT, says the trees on the varsity’s Middle Campus almost certainly saved him, the pilot and two other passengers from certain calamity.
“If the tree tops didn’t catch us, we would’ve crashed into a building and with the fuel gushing... we were just concerned about an explosion but fortunately that didn’t happen,” said a relieved Terry February.
The 56-year-old, who has been a photographer for nearly 22 years, was on an aerial photo shoot for BKS Engineering at about 9am yesterday when the helicopter started malfunctioning.
“We were tumbling down and I could see the blades crashing into the road… fuel was just squirting out and we were concerned it was going to blow up and burn,” February said of yesterday morning’s near fatal crash.
February said he was photographing the Graca Machel building on UCT’s Lower Campus, for BKS Engineering who had been involved in its construction.
“It was just before 9am when above the building, the pilot was struggling to position the helicopter and he was circling when the helicopter made a very strong shudder.”
The pilot then informed February and the two engineers employed by BKS that he was going to make a u-turn.
He said the pilot had made the U-turn at Rhodes Memorial and had then headed back towards the Graca Machel building.
“As we were coming back and as I’ve been doing aerial shoots for a very long time, I could feel something was wrong, it felt as if the helicopter was losing power.
“We were then coming across the highway and there was a lot of traffic and as we reached the Middle Campus we were constantly losing height fast… I could see the ground rushing towards us and then the bottom hit the tree top just over the highway.
“There was complete silence,” said February, who was still shaken by the incident.
He then managed to unbuckle himself and the passenger next to him.
February said the helicopter, breaking its skids, had landed on the pilot’s side on one of the campus’s roads.
Gerda Kruger, executive director at UCT’s communication and marketing department said the small private helicopter had made an emergency landing and the university’s emergency services had aided the crash victims.
Only the pilot had sustained slight injuries, while February and the two engineers were unharmed.