Durban -When helicopter pilot Darrell Rea crashed and died while battling a savage wildfire along the Bainskloof Pass, he did not only leave a glaring gap at Working on Fire where he was the organisation’s chief pilot, but also a wife and a toddler.
His son, Elijah, barely over a year old, will grow up without his father, a man who friends described as an “exceptional human being” and devoted family man.
Rea, 39, and firefighter Jastun Visagie, 22, were killed when the pair took to the skies to help contain the blaze near Wellington.
Working on Fire spokesman Linton Rensburg said when they arrived at Bainskloof they faced strong winds. They attempted to land in order to configure the chopper into a fire-bombing role, but the aircraft crashed into the mountainside.
Visagie was fairly new to the Working on Fire team, having joined in 2013. He was reportedly still living at his family’s home with his parents and brother and sister in Tulbagh. As a youngster he was soon promoted to crew leader and later to helicopter safety leader.
In comparison, Rea was a seasoned veteran. Born in Zambia, the pilot came from a very religious family, said his friend Colin Deiner, the Western Cape’s disaster management chief.
“As a result he was quite a religious guy,” added Deiner. He laughed as he described how the pilot wore a helmet with the words “Jesus is my co-pilot” written on it.
“That was him - he had this amazing sense of humour but when he got up in the air (he) was a true professional.”
Deiner said he was blown away when he flew with Rea last year during rescue operations in Malawi when the country was ravaged by flooding.
“He was a cautious pilot and could fly through some of the worst conditions.”
Rea was also among the pilots who battled the blaze that ravaged the Southern Peninsula last month.
“You know, he would never say no. If there was something that needed to be done, he would do it.
“It’s just such a sad loss,” said Deiner.
Working on Fire Aviation chief executive Johan Heine said: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of a very experienced pilot and crew member, and wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to families as well as colleagues and the firefighting fraternity.”
Rea’s wife, Angela, a make-up artist working from their home in Tulbagh, did not answer calls on Thursday.
The couple’s Facebook pages feature numerous pictures of the happy family.
“Beautiful wife,” wrote the pilot in one of his last comments beneath an image of Angela holding his son.
Rensburg said Rea had more than 3 300 hours of flying experience and had worked for Working on Fire’s aviation division for the past eight years.
“All our pilots are recruited, selected and trained to the highest international standards.”
An expert in the aviation industry echoed this sentiment, saying firefighting pilots were often the best in the business.
“They are the hotshots of the game,” he said on Thursday.
The expert, who did not want to be named for professional reasons, said that forced landings in mountainous areas were difficult to pull off.
He said that in his estimation there was only a 60 percent chance the pilot was going to walk away alive.
Therefore, pilots in the Western Cape faced greater risks because of the province’s potentially treacherous landscape.
Provincial MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell said on Thursday that five firefighters, including two pilots, had been killed while battling blazes during this year’s fire season.
Top pilot, Hendrik Willem “Bees” Marais, was killed when his Huey had to make a forced landing while battling a fire in Cape Point last month.
Bredell said the family and friends of the victims were in his thoughts. “I wish them comfort in their time of mourning.”
Meanwhile, the aviation expert said the cost of replacing helicopters lost during firefighting could be between R4 million for a “well-looked after” secondhand chopper, to R24m for a helicopter fresh off the factory line.
He added that South Africa only had about 60 Hueys, and was facing a shortage of aircraft.
But Deiner, who as the chief of Western Cape’s Disaster Management Department co-ordinates operations across the province, said they did not face this problem.
“Every year we contract 24 aircraft to the province.”
These aircraft and their pilots are contracted from Working on Fire, which is part of an extended Public Works Programme, and this number is determined by assessments of the province’s needs.
The Mercury