No survivors in KZN plane crash
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No survivors in KZN plane crash
A light aircraft that went missing after it took off from Pietermaritzburg was found on Wednesday morning with no survivors on board, rescue services said. The plane with the bodies of three occupants was found at Rhino's Peak in the southern Drakensberg, near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, said Santjie White, a spokesperson for the SA Search and Rescue Organisation. The aircraft took off from Cato Ridge, near Pietermaritzburg, on Tuesday afternoon but never arrived at its intended destination, Tempe in Bloemfontein. A ground search in the Drakensberg near Himeville on Tuesday evening turned up no results. By Wednesday morning, poor weather in the area lifted, allowing police and a team from the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to conduct an aerial search, said police spokeswoman Superintendent Zandra Hechter. Rescuers had to travel by helicopter and then hike for four hours to reach the crash site, she said. Search parties from the police force, SANDF, the Mountain Club of SA, and several KwaZulu-Natal organisations were involved in attempts to find the missing plane.
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Cum. Granitus........In the ongoing contest between bits of metal doing hundreds of miles an hour and peices of granite standing still.....the granite has yet to lose!
Understand ATC's last position was Underberg area at 80 routing Cato to Bloem?????.......dont understand????....about ....5000ft too low...... have not looked at the area chart but I would guess about 6000 below minimum safe......those rocks have been there for a long time.....didnt just snuck up on us???
Understand ATC's last position was Underberg area at 80 routing Cato to Bloem?????.......dont understand????....about ....5000ft too low...... have not looked at the area chart but I would guess about 6000 below minimum safe......those rocks have been there for a long time.....didnt just snuck up on us???
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Latest - not so sure on the "experts" - doesn't say who they are. Brian's a top bloke but he doesn't strike me as an expert.
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Experts believe that the small plane that crashed on Tuesday in the southern Drakensberg, killing all three people on board, should not have been flying at all. The pilot, Raymond Gleimus, his mother Yvonne Smith and a passenger, Johan Nel, were found dead in the mountains after their aircraft crashed. They were flying back to Bloemfontein from Durban, a trip that was scheduled for Monday, but was postponed due to bad weather. But experts believe it was not safe to fly on Tuesday, either. The wreckage of the plane was found on rock 8 000 feet above sea level - and the freezing level on that day was 8 000 feet.
Glemius, a businessman and keen pilot, had flown two employees of his aircraft maintenance business to Durban on Monday to attend a course. He dropped off his friend and business partner Hentie Kruger in Bethlehem and picked up Nel there. Smith, who had visited her brother in Pietermaritzburg, was also on the plane for the return flight on Tuesday. The plane took off from Cato Ridge on Tuesday at 12:23 and should have landed at Tempe in Bloemfontein by 14:00. Brian Emmenis, well-known in aviation circles, said a student pilot heard an emergency signal from a Beechcraft on the radio on Tuesday. At about 16:00 there were rumours that a plane had crashed at Bultfontein, but the police could not confirm this. Shortly afterwards there was confirmation that Gleimius's plane was missing and a large-scale search was planned, but thwarted by the bad weather in the Natal Midlands, said Jeff Gaisford of KwaZulu-Natal Ezemvelo Wildlife. Later there was a message that a forestry worker had heard a loud bang in the mountains near Monk's Cowl.
The South African Search and Rescue Organisation (Sasar) and Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) in Johannesburg was alerted after the airplane failed to arrive at its destination. According to Sasar spokesperson Santjie White, the wreckage was located shortly after the commencement of the aerial search. Following the discovery of the bodies, White said the matter was handed to the police and the South African Civil Aviation Authority Accident Investigation Section. Police spokesperson superintendent Zandra Hector said the wreckage of the plane was found at 08:00 on Wednesday. The plane was found near Rhino's Peak in the southern Drakensberg. Part of the plane had been burnt. Hector said members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) retrieved the bodies from the mountain. She could not give details of the injuries but confirmed that they were severely battered. Hector said the cause of the crash has not been established. She said an investigation on the cause is under way. "We are not sure if the crash was caused by a mechanical problem or bad weather, but we are investigating the matter," she said. Nel, who owned businesses in the goldfields, is survived by his attorney wife Marlien and little daughter Leré. Marlien is about eight months' pregnant with their second child. Gleimius, winner of the 2003 President's Cup Air Race and an experienced pilot, was not married.
Glemius, a businessman and keen pilot, had flown two employees of his aircraft maintenance business to Durban on Monday to attend a course. He dropped off his friend and business partner Hentie Kruger in Bethlehem and picked up Nel there. Smith, who had visited her brother in Pietermaritzburg, was also on the plane for the return flight on Tuesday. The plane took off from Cato Ridge on Tuesday at 12:23 and should have landed at Tempe in Bloemfontein by 14:00. Brian Emmenis, well-known in aviation circles, said a student pilot heard an emergency signal from a Beechcraft on the radio on Tuesday. At about 16:00 there were rumours that a plane had crashed at Bultfontein, but the police could not confirm this. Shortly afterwards there was confirmation that Gleimius's plane was missing and a large-scale search was planned, but thwarted by the bad weather in the Natal Midlands, said Jeff Gaisford of KwaZulu-Natal Ezemvelo Wildlife. Later there was a message that a forestry worker had heard a loud bang in the mountains near Monk's Cowl.
The South African Search and Rescue Organisation (Sasar) and Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) in Johannesburg was alerted after the airplane failed to arrive at its destination. According to Sasar spokesperson Santjie White, the wreckage was located shortly after the commencement of the aerial search. Following the discovery of the bodies, White said the matter was handed to the police and the South African Civil Aviation Authority Accident Investigation Section. Police spokesperson superintendent Zandra Hector said the wreckage of the plane was found at 08:00 on Wednesday. The plane was found near Rhino's Peak in the southern Drakensberg. Part of the plane had been burnt. Hector said members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) retrieved the bodies from the mountain. She could not give details of the injuries but confirmed that they were severely battered. Hector said the cause of the crash has not been established. She said an investigation on the cause is under way. "We are not sure if the crash was caused by a mechanical problem or bad weather, but we are investigating the matter," she said. Nel, who owned businesses in the goldfields, is survived by his attorney wife Marlien and little daughter Leré. Marlien is about eight months' pregnant with their second child. Gleimius, winner of the 2003 President's Cup Air Race and an experienced pilot, was not married.
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Pilot was taxying out at Cato in 500m viz with a cloudbase of around 800ft. Chief intructor at Cato went out to aircraft to enquire if they were really going to fly in the prevailing Wx. After being insulted, shouted at and told to mind his business as the pilot was highly experienced (1000hrs...) and IF rated, the instructor turned to the pax and asked them if they would like to entrust their lives to this man who clearly had not idea of the risks he was engaging in. Aircraft turned back and shut down, only to take off about an hour later, when no one was there to try and save the pax. This man was hell-bent on departing, and no one was going to change his mind. Filing and cruising at level 080, well below the highest point on the route. FL120 would have been the MSA. Went straight in, at cruising attitude and altitude. Never even knew what hit them, though I am sure that the pilot must have known it was possible (filing 080 and all).
Reports from his IF testing officer state that his attitude would have gotten him sooner, not later.
Reports from his IF testing officer state that his attitude would have gotten him sooner, not later.
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Woof etc, I don't think it's fair to point fingers at the testing officer in a case like this. The perception of an individual's attitude varies greatly from one person to the next and even in cases where a bad attitude has been identified it's still quite difficult to objectively use that as the pass/fail item. All technical aspects of flight testing are known quantities, you either know what you're doing or not. Tick those boxes. However, the accurate assessment of someone's psychological attributes is widely acknowledged as being one of the most seriously deficient elements in modern aviation. A look at some of the social hand grenades climbing into cockpits every day will testify to that. My point is, there just isn't enough information and knowledge available today to effectively implement a filtering system that will be satisfactory to all.
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Sad and inexplicable story.......still dont understand....its not like there are one or 2 peaks above 8000ft.......only about the whole of Lesotho.........you sure are going to need more than 285 ponies to fly that route at 080
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Just to correct a few incorrect statements.
The pilot was stopped on Monday - the flight took place on the Tuesday.
The flight was for FL80 around the mountains - I do not think any pilot - competent or otherwise, would fly at FL80 straight towards a mountain range of 12 0000 ft
The pilot was stopped on Monday - the flight took place on the Tuesday.
The flight was for FL80 around the mountains - I do not think any pilot - competent or otherwise, would fly at FL80 straight towards a mountain range of 12 0000 ft
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and yet, as I understand it, the point of impact was pretty much on the direct track cato - Tempe?.....ATCs last position on the aircraft was underberg area at 080 and the flight plan was direct?? Some of this may not be 100% accurate but it still is very strange
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Fl 080
Was a flight plan filed and who with? why did atc not pipe up and say something? (not blaming them at all) but even though they would have been out of their air space, you would have thought somone would have noticed? IFR in single piston? is that allowed on charter?? not the last time I checked. Even in positioning flights when I used to fly a 206, atc would not allow it at IFR levels? 
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KUDOs to the Cato CFI for trying to prevent the flight - it takes balls to stand up like that in the interests of safety. Sadly it ended tragically.
As Rude Boy points out, it is attitude and often not poor ability that creates a dangerous pilot. In my instructing days I noticed that the overconfident pilots tended to feature more prominently in the accident statistics. The slow learners often make the safe pilots, since they are more often than not aware of their limitations.
As Rude Boy points out, it is attitude and often not poor ability that creates a dangerous pilot. In my instructing days I noticed that the overconfident pilots tended to feature more prominently in the accident statistics. The slow learners often make the safe pilots, since they are more often than not aware of their limitations.
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Was a flight plan filed and who with? why did atc not pipe up and say something? (not blaming them at all) but even though they would have been out of their air space, you would have thought somone would have noticed? IFR in single piston? is that allowed on charter?? not the last time I checked. Even in positioning flights when I used to fly a 206, atc would not allow it at IFR levels?
Definitely far beyond ATC duties and responsibilities.
The flight was conducted in Class G airspace where ATC can't "allow" or "deny" anything but only provide flight information if able. Also notice that topographical information is not readily available to ATC.
A guy filing and flying a straight line from A to B through high ground...
IMHO this accident can be blamed to poor preflight planning, if there was any.
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The flight was for FL80 around the mountains - I do not think any pilot - competent or otherwise, would fly at FL80 straight towards a mountain range of 12 0000 ft
