A six-seater aircraft that crashed into a pensioner's house at the weekend caused more havoc as it was being transported to Virginia Airport.
The plane, a Britten-Norman Islander, became temporarily stuck under the M4 bridge to Virginia Airport in Hinton Road, Durban, on Tuesday. It was being towed to the airport so that civil aviation authorities could continue their investigations as to why the plane crashed into pensioner Alwyn Field's home in Danville Avenue.
Metro police officers were at the scene to escort the tow truck and to assist with traffic.
He told his unexpected visitors: 'I'm sorry I wasn't home when you called.'
The passengers - the Huber family from western Austria - and the pilot Alistair Freeman, 38, were lucky to survive.
Daryl Mann, chief engineer of the recovery operation, said all the necessary tests will be carried out to try and find out the cause of the crash.
Asked about the cause of the accident, a Civil Aviation Authority investigator said that it would take about five to eight months to complete the investigation.
Freeman had to be cut from the wreck and it took rescuers 90 minutes to free him. He was admitted to St Augustine's Hospital with a broken leg. He had been ferrying the family from Sibaya Lake near Sodwana to Virginia Airport. They were seconds away from landing when the plane went down.
Field, 72, was at a nearby bowling club at the time of the crash.
Gerald Huber is in Umhlanga Hospital with a dislocated leg, and cuts and abrasions to his face. The family is due to fly home on Friday, but hospital staff say it is unlikely as Huber would still be in hospital.
Huber's wife, Monika, and his 12-year-old daughter Felicitas, are wearing neck braces and Monika has a bandage on her eyes.
Monika's sister, Alexandre, and 10-year-old son, Adam, were also treated at hospital.
Field - now being nicknamed "Air-Field" by his neighbours - told his unexpected visitors: "I'm sorry I wasn't home when you called."
Huber's wife, the only one in the family who can speak English, apologised for hitting his home.
As fire officers pumped out fuel from the plane on Monday, an independent insurance expert called in by Field's insurers assessed the damage.
Field's daughter, Beverley van der Westhuizen, said her dad was "very upset as his case of whisky has gone".
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