Caryn Dolley and Sapa
CAPE TOWN aviation photographer Frans Dely, who has been hailed by his colleagues as one of the world’s best in his profession, was among the 13 people who died when two aircraft crashed in a mountainous area near Tzaneen.
The wreckage of the two Albatross planes was found early yesterday in the Lekgalameetse mountains north-east of Tzaneen. The aircraft had taken off on Sunday.
Disaster management head Hannes Steyn said the aircraft were flying in formation when they crashed at an altitude of 1 570 metres.
“They flew directly into the cliff. There was no mid-air collision.”
No mayday was broadcast before the crash and indications were that the occupants of the planes died on impact, Steyn said.
The bodies of all 13 occupants were found among the wreckage.
Dely’s business partner, air show commentator Brian Emmenis, said he was struggling to accept his friend was dead.
“He was one of the world’s greatest aviation photographers. I
commentate on air shows around SA and worked very closely with Frans. We toured around to many of the great air shows together. We went to so many places, including Sweden and England,” he said.
Emmenis said about two weeks ago, Dely had realised one of his goals and launched a magazine called Avpix, an aviation publication. He had worked on the magazine with Emmenis and another colleague, Justin de Reuck.
Dely had been in charge of taking photographs for the magazine, while Emmenis said he had been in charge of the marketing aspect.
Emmenis said Dely had gone to Tzaneen at the weekend for an air show.
“He was there to take photographs, but also to distribute the magazine,” he said.
No one had heard from Dely, nor from the other 12 aboard the two planes, after they left the show from a landing strip in Tzaneen.
The aircraft had been headed to the Rand Airport in Germiston, Gauteng.
Emmenis said before Dely, the leading SA aviation photographer had been Herman Potgieter. On February 13, 1998, Potgieter was killed along with a few others when the aircraft they were in crashed into mountains near Nairobi, Kenya. Potgieter was 53.
“When Herman Potgieter was killed, he left a huge void. But Frans then turned up and filled that,” Emmenis said.
Yesterday Dely’s daughter, Cara-Lee, declined to comment.
On Dely’s Facebook account, it said he was living in Cape Town, but was from Pretoria. It said he had gone to Pretoria Boys High School.
Messages of condolences were pouring in for him on Facebook.
Paul Sabatier, wrote on Emmenis’s wall: “So sad that some will only now really appreciate Frans’s work. RIP”
De Reuck, Dely’s colleague, wrote: “(I am) heartbroken ... Today I have lost a good friend and mentor and so many of my friends have lost their loved ones too. This is too much to bear.”
Dely had been on the plane, ZS NJX, along with pilot Peter Gildenhuysand passengers Stuart and Peter van Oldenburg, Marietjie de Witt, and Linda Pierce.
Those on the other plane, ZU MMI, were Brian Gruar and passengers Marrion Anderson, Maddison and Alexandra Doak, Tess Spence, Louise Warden and Kevin Woolacott.