By Tamlynn Johannes
Aerobatics pilot Steven Heugh, killed when the aircraft he was flying crashed on the Vergelegen wine estate in Somerset West on Tuesday, was the second member of his family to die in a flying accident.
His older brother Andrew died when his glider crashed near Stilfontein in North West Province 13 years ago.
Steven Heugh, 40, was an experienced pilot and had logged more than 9 000 flying hours as a Boeing 747 co-pilot for South African Airways. He later joined the South African Air Force's Silver Falcons Aerobatics Team and the Smirnoff International Aerobatics Team.
'We have no idea how or why this happened'
His sister, Kathleen, said on Wednesday her family was trying to cope with the shock and had not yet been allowed to visit the crash site.
"The police said we couldn't go through and that investigations would continue for a long time," she said.
"We have no idea how or why this happened, but what I know is that we as a family would want to see the site as soon as we are allowed to."
Ms Heugh said her brother's wife, Sharon, was not in a state to speak to the media.
"We need our space. He (Steven) was a beloved member of the family and will be missed dearly, especially by his young children, six-year-old twins Megan and Lauren, and eight-year-old son Ryan."
'Steve was a daredevil'
Heugh was giving a private lesson to Durban businessman Gerald Sweidan, founder and director of Pharos Medical Plan, who owned the Russian fixed-wing aerobatics aircraft.
Witnesses reported that the wings broke off, causing the body of the aircraft to spin out of control and crash just before 2.30pm.
Civil Aviation Authority officials inspected the scene on Wednesday to determine the cause of the crash.
Kathleen said her older brother Andrew had also been an avid aviator.
"The area where he was flying, near the Vaal River, was prone to freak winds that were strong and which would cause gliders to be pushed in the wrong direction. That's what happened to his glider."
Steven and Andrew Heugh and their older brothers David and Anthony attended Sacs in Newlands. They grew up in Somerset West and later in Linbro Park, Sandton, Gauteng. A sixth sibling, Geraldine Kooy, and her mother, Pauline, live in Australia.
Cape Times acting news editor Tony Weaver, who grew up with Heugh, said that as a boy Steven was forever getting into scrapes.
"Steve was a daredevil who even as a kid was passionate about flying," Weaver said.
"I can remember him sitting for hours with my late father, John - who was a Spitfire pilot with the South African Air Force's No 1 Squadron - talking about flying. Flying was all he ever wanted to do."
The president of the Airline Pilots Association of South Africa and a former colleague of Heugh, Gawie van Rooyen, said: "We are saddened by the loss of such a skilled man. He was a very experienced pilot and I know he would have taken any and every precaution to avoid accidents."
A rugby match between the South African Rugby Legends and the visiting Argentinian Legends is to be held in tribute to Sweidan, a rugby enthusiast, at the Westville Boys' High School, Durban on May 14. It is to be called the Gerald Sweidan Memorial Match.