Johannesburg - A helicopter pilot-in-training crash-landed during a practice session near Kromvlei Cemetery south of Johannesburg on Wednesday morning.
Police said the pilot had force-landed the helicopter, but no one had yet determined the cause of the crash.
The pilot sustained serious back injuries, according to police. They said he had been flown by Netcare to Milpark Hospital, but the helicopter remained where it had slammed into the ground.
With drooping propellers snapped off at the ends, the chopper’s silhouette broke the otherwise smooth horizon of a vast field.
Bits of windshield and window littered the grass.
The Bell 407 made for quite a different picture from the proud contraption advertised for advanced flight courses on the National Airways Corporation flight school website.
According to police, the pilot, Chick Lee, had been training through the school, which operates out of Rand Airport.
A representative of NAC Flight School said the school had “absolutely no comment” on the incident.
According to ER24, which went to the scene, Lee was in his sixties. Netcare representative Chris Botha reported that on arriving at the hospital, the pilot was in a serious but stable condition.
Lee’s supervisor, Jaques Krafft, was on the ground when Lee had to force-land the helicopter, police said. They said Krafft was not harmed but had gone to the hospital to check on Lee.
As inspectors searched the debris for clues about what caused the crash, a morning funeral procession wound its way into the nearby cemetery.
The Mercury
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