By Jeff Wicks
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It appears to be second time unlucky for Captain Alistair Freeman, who was critically injured aboard SA Airlink J41 when it ditched into a Merebank school field in Durban yesterday.
While this could not be officially confirmed, South African pilots' blogs were last night referring to this as Freeman's second crash in the past few years.
In August 2005, The Mercury reported that a light aircraft had crashed into a house in Durban North with a Captain Alistair Freeman at the controls. All six people on board survived.
That aircraft, a Britten-Norman Islander, had taken off from Manzengwenya Aerodrome near, Lake Sibaya in northern KZN, and was about to land at Durban's Virginia Airport. However, moments before the crash, the pilot had made a radio call that he was having engine problems.
Freeman fractured his hip.
SA Airlink spokesperson Karin Murray would not be drawn last night on whether the two captain Alistair Freemans were one and the same.
She said the Freeman whose plane crashed yesterday had had a spotless record with SA Airlink.
SA Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Kabelo Ledwaba could not confirm that both aircraft had been piloted by the same man.
"Something like this will take time (to confirm). I am not willing to speculate on this."