Kimberley - Motorists on the N12 near Kimberley on Sunday shared the highway with a Cessna plane after the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on the tarmac.
The pilot of the aircraft, 20-year-old Jean-Marc du Plessis, said he was on his way from the Delta 200 airport in Cape Town en route to Wonderboom Airport, when the plane ran out of fuel.
“I was scheduled to refill the plane in Kimberley after leaving Cape Town at around 11am. About five kilometres from Kimberley, I realised that I was fast running out of petrol and feared that I might not make the Kimberley airstrip. I decided that I had to make an emergency landing on the N12 or stand the chance of crashing down,” Du Plessis said on Sunday.
After realising that he was not going to make it, he landed the aircraft on the N12, about 12 kilometres from Kimberley.
“As soon as the wheels of the aircraft landed on the tar, the plane moved further between the lines for about a half a kilometre before coming to a standstill. Luckily, vehicles that passed me moved under the plane’s wings, which stretched across the national road. Two men then came to my assistance and we pushed the aircraft into the veld,” said Du Plessis.
He added that it was a nerve-wracking experience, as this was the first time he had to perform an emergency landing.
“I am just relieved that I did not crash into any vehicles on the road.”
Police officials on the scene indicated that Du Plessis would not be criminally charged, but that he would have to wait for the Civil Aviation Authority to clear the plane before he could fill it up with fuel and take off again.
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