Plane narrowly missed village

Police arrive at the scene of the plane crash in Newcastle. Picture: South African Police Service, Twitter

Police arrive at the scene of the plane crash in Newcastle. Picture: South African Police Service, Twitter

Published Sep 17, 2014

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Durban - The plane that crashed near Newcastle on Monday narrowly missed a village before it crashed on a farm and burst into flames.

Newcastle farmer and helicopter pilot Allen Wilson, one of the first at the scene, said he was on his farm when he received a frantic call from a friend alerting him of the crash.

“He was in a meeting and had been called by his labourers and asked me to go and see what had happened. He told me there had been a plane crash and it was on fire, and I must hurry,” he said.

He said the pilot had been practising and had done “one or two circuits at night” from Newcastle Airport before heading to Rand Airport in Joburg.

“They used a direction not normally used; no one knows why they were in that area. They seemed to have lost directional control.

“When you’re not using an instrument you rely on the horizon but they flew towards the mountain and, when they got closer, they lost their horizon. It’s what we call a black hole, there’s no light around there. It’s very dark. There was no moon and they didn’t know which way was down and which was up,” he said.

The aircraft crashed and eventually came to a “standstill” next to a ravine before burning out, he added.

“That’s the way I, as a pilot, see it from the markings on the ground,” he said. “The plane wreckage was about 100 metres from where it hit the ground.”

He said the two occupants had been ejected and had died from their injuries.

“It was gruesome to see,” he said.

Police spokesman Jay Naicker said the pilot and a passenger, both unidentified, were certified dead at the scene. Although unconfirmed, it is believed the men were from the Middle East.

He said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would investigate the cause of the accident.

The Aviation Safety Network said on its website that the Cessna 172K belonged to IFK Aircraft Company/AFOS, based at Rand Airport. An aviation industry source said the flight had arrived at Virginia Airport on Sunday and departed on Monday, a few hours before the crash.

The aircraft was listed in the fleet section of the Afos website. It said the Cessna was a four-seater with a “worldwide and highly renowned” reputation. It added that the aircraft was used for training and personal use.

Wilson commended the quick response of paramedics, police and the community. He said the scene was difficult to access because of the remote location.

“It was in the middle of the farms and people had to go through rivers. Vehicles got stuck and some people had to walk a kilometre to get there,” he said.

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On Sunday, a father and son were seriously injured when their plane crashed in a field outside Alicedale in the Eastern Cape.

In two separate incidents on Saturday, a man was killed in a light aircraft crash in Heidelberg in the Western Cape while two men were injured when their aircraft crashed at Springs Airfield. - With additional reporting by Brendan Roane

The Mercury

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