A little about myself
I don’t want to spend the whole day talking about myself so am going to keep this short. I am a very passionate person especially at what I enjoy doing. I am somebody that takes everything I do, I push to the extreme. I was brought up in gliding as my number one hobby, going solo on my sixteenth birthday and by the time I was 25 I was representing South Africa in the junior world Gliding Championships in Nitra Slovakia. My favorite place is to be alongside the majestic mountain cliff face of the Drakensberg Mountains souring with the birds away from all the stress and worries of normal life. I raced Super bikes and got very good at it in such a short time. Flew Radio controlled aircraft as my smaller hobby. I always wanted to fly as that was my biggest passion in life. I didn’t know how I would do it as a career but was determined. I met very big challenges getting started in this flying career. Once I was Qualified as a commercial pilot it still felt like I was walking into a brick wall every day trying to get ahead in the game. I became an instructor and also completed my airline transport licence. I was a test pilot and an aerobatic pilot. Flew a few air show Displays in gliders. The feeling and rush of throwing an aircraft around in the sky. Making the blood rush and the adrenalin flow, watching the scenery flash around you as flick the aircraft around is something to experience and can’t replicate on earth. I spent time flying around Africa getting experience and building my way up the career path. I spent much time flying in Game reserves. I slowly moved onto Jets which was magnificent. I was very fortunate to fly some of the most modern of corporate jets. I spent a year and a half in Nigeria flying VIP’s around to all destinations in Africa and much into Europe. At the age of 27 I was at the peak of my life. I had just come back From Nigeria and beginning to settle again. I had saved enough money and bought a house. My car was paid off and was living pretty much stress free. I was loving my work as I was doing some freelance flying out of Virginia airport flying all sorts of aircraft. I felt I had made a whole new bunch of friends
I have written this book as I have learnt a lot in the last couple of years and would like to share with you some of my experiences and maybe some things that you can learn from.
Accident
Before we crash straight into the accident, let me fill you in on the background of the situation at the time. I had just come back from Living in Nigeria where I was based from flying VIPs around the world in a nice corporate jet. Was just settling in Durban Where I had bought a nice little house and enjoying a normal lifestyle .At the time I was doing a lot of freelance ( No that doesn’t mean my name is Lance and I worked for free ) charter flying work which involved flying clients around South Africa and nehbouring countries for business meetings. Spending a lot of time at Virginia airport I came across a funny looking design of an aircraft in one of the hangers. There are not a lot of these types of aero planes around that you see everyday as it is a very unconventional flying design. Getting closer to it I felt an exciting attraction to it as I had a very good knowledge of this type of small aircraft. In the past I had done a lot of research on the way this type of aircraft fly’s. I was approached by a friend who knew the owners and told me that the owners had started a company manufacturing these aircraft locally. I was surprised and wanted to hear more. He said they needed a pilot to do some test flying for them on it. I am a very enthusiastic person when it comes to flying and as I had a good knowledge on the design characteristics and am a qualified test pilot I offered to help. It wasn’t long before I was introduced to the owners and started to assist where I could. I took this aircraft for a couple of successful test flights and came back with some reports about its handling and what needed to be changed and re designed to make this a better aircraft.. They took the aircraft away and started working on it. I then had a successful interview and psychometric testing with a nice local airline. I was very excited about this as my Goal has always been to work for the airlines. I had a call from the airline to give me plans of when they expect me to start. Things were all falling into place. It was arranged that I would be leaving for Paris where I would be attending a flight training school to do the training on the aircraft I was going to fly for the airline.
I also then had a call from the dragonfly aircraft owner asking if I would test fly the dragonfly again and take it down to East London for an air show. I didn’t really want to do the flight but felt obliged to because now I was the only person that could do it for them. Now I am not a very religious kind of guy but for some reason before I flew this plane that day, I didn’t feel comfortable about the flight, something inside my gut feeling wasn’t good. I even Preyed to God which is not something I often do and said, “you know I’m not feeling good about this flight and would you please keep me safe” Well it’s a bit of a mind blow for me but think that that is why I’m here today to tell you this story.
On June 16 2006 was the day that the comrade’s marathon was on where runners were doing a run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. I was up early to avoid the comrade’s traffic on route to Virginia Airport. It was a lovely morning not a cloud in sight and crystal clear. Arriving at the airport I met some people there to help get things going. Started opening the majestic hangar doors revealing the Dragonfly aircraft at the front of the hangar. Its mean looking fetches in white with blue stripes down the side. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. Some from Nerves and some from excitement. We wheeled the Dragonfly out of the hangar and onto the apron in front of the fuel bay. A good pre-flight which involves giving the aircraft a good checking over to make sure the right fuel is on board, the oil levels are good and the airframe looks good for flight. Opened the canopy and climbed into the snug seat. Giving everything inside a good check over. Once ready, flicked a couple switches turning on aircraft lights and systems. Turned the key bringing the engine to life. It felt smooth and ran nicely. The oil pressure came up and the engine temperatures came into the normal operating temperatures. Switched on the radios and gave a listen out to the air traffic controller’s voice talking to the other aircraft within the airport control zone. It was a very quiet morning with not many other aircraft flying in the area. I gave a call to the tower saying good morning and requesting taxi instructions for a flight out to the general flying area for a test flight. I was cleared to taxi out to the holding point by runway 05. Being a tail dragger aircraft with its two main wheels in the front and a small tail wheel at the back makes the engine in the front point slightly upwards when taxiing on the ground making it very difficult to see where you are going. You have to taxi in a zig zag style to keep checking out the side of the canopy as to where you are going and to see that it is clear and that you not going to hit anything. At the holding point I performed and engine run up to check that it was ok for flight. Went through a checklist to make sure the aircraft was configured and ready for takeoff. The tower controller cleared me to line up on the runway 05 and take off with a short after departure clearance and the present wind speed and direction. On lining up on the runway I switched the landing lights on and smoothly opened up the throttle. The turbo was making the engine thrust lots of power giving a good acceleration. Before long the tail had raised putting the aircraft at a level attitude and reaching flying speed. Off into the smooth air over the calm coastline of Durban north. I went out to the La-mercy area where there was a small private airstrip and did a few touch and goes (take offs and landings) on their grass runway. Feeling really comfortable with the aircraft and happy with its performance I returned back to Virginia airport to prepare my journey for the day. Upon returning at Virginia I was cleared to land on runway 05, the same runway I left from. I did a greaser of a landing which means I put the aircraft on the ground smoothly hardly feeling a bump. Taxied back to the fuel bay to where the others were waiting for me to tell them what it was like. After a brief discussion and a few smiles on our faces,
We topped up the fuel tanks and packed some chips and cold drink for my journey to East London. Climbed into the cockpit again and started the engine. Without any hesitation the engine purred smoothly. A small wave to fellow helpers not knowing that it could have been my last. Taxied out to the holding point 05 again at Virginia. Another engine run up and was ready to go. Was given my ATC (air traffic control) clearance and lined up on the runway. Smoothly applying the throttle and accelerating. In no time the tail was up and was on my way. On departure from Virginia I routed to East London I had to stay clear from Durban airspace as I was not equipped with a transponder. This is an instrument onboard that shows up on an air traffic controller’s screen showing where you are and what your altitude is. The air traffic controller can then give you information about other aircraft in the area and keep a good separation between aircraft so we don’t crash into each other. I had to stay clear of his airspace so as not to interfere when he can’t tell where I am. By doing this I routed up the north coast then inland to Cato Ridge and then down towards Hiberdene .It ended up being a scenic route seeing the rivers and the sun reflecting off the Ananda Dam. . Once I Had worked out by looking at my maps that I was clear of the Durban airspace I started a climb to a flight level. The aircraft was a very powerful plane and didn’t need to add any power to start the climb. I only had to reduce the speed a few knots by raising the noise into a gentle climb attitude. There was no rush to climb high. Being a nice clear morning it was giving me a lovely view of the Drakensberg. At the time I couldn’t think of a better place to be. Looking onto the cliff faces of the mountains with the sun shining onto the rocks. Could start to feel the winter chill in the air. On climbing through 5000ft
I changed frequency on the aircraft radio to the Durban approach frequency as I had to let them know my whereabouts and my intentions of my routing. Before I could start my call I was stunned with a sharp crack of noise which sent a shock through the aircraft followed by a rough vibration. Oh @#$# was my word not that anybody could here me. I don’t think I had the PTT (press to talk) pressed on the microphone. Looking ahead I could see the propeller at a wind milling speed, only still turning due to the airflow of the passing wind keeping it rotating like the blades of a windmill. The sound was very different as it was no longer the comforting purr of the engine but rather a shuddering knocking and vibration I could feel. I was very calm still and figured with my much gliding experience and many out landings I have had to perform from flying gliders. I have done this before and this was going to be ok. Looking down to my right I could see the cabin filling with smoke and what looked like steam, becoming very thick and white. I could feel the intense heat filling the cabin the canopy in front of me started to cover with Small black Dots of oil. Soon after sprays of oil started covering the canopy greatly reducing my forward visibility. All I could see now was runs of dark brown ahead. This was a bad recipe for any pilot and I had to deal with it.
I thought that at this stage my flying skills were not there to save my life and rather focused on my communications, contacted Durban approach and gave them my Mayday Call. “Mayday Mayday Mayday, This is Zulu Uniform, Delta Yanki Foxtrot. Which was my call signe. I am a dragonfly aircraft on route from Cato ridge to East London. I’m presently at five thousand feet just outside your TMA. I have had an engine failure and preparing for a forced landing in the area. I started a descending turn to the left as I could only see out of my left side of the cockpit window. Searching for a possible place to put this thing down. Durban acknowledged my Mayday call but didn’t have much else to say to me. During my decent I Received a call From an SAA (South African airways) flight that was inbound to Durban from Port Elizabeth. The Pilot from the SAA flight asked me what my Radial and DME was from East London. Which is a radio bearing and distance given on some onboard aircraft instruments which I didn’t have. I kind of laughed in my reply and said, you don’t understand I’m in an experimental aircraft and have a hand held GPS (global positioning system) and a map. I could only give my distance from East London and roughly how far inland I was from the coast. Out of the window at the side of the cockpit I could only give small details of what I saw on the ground to describe my position. I had told him that I was over some sugar cane fields with some red buildings around it. Another building that may have been a church.
I had about 5 minutes to think about my impact and knew it would be ugly. Not being able to see forward. My eyes started burning as the smoke was intense. My body was sweating and I couldn’t take the heat coming into the cabin. The oil was hot. Struggling to find any more ventilation. There was the thought of ejecting the canopy but the fear of hot oil in my face put a stop to that. I was battling to see my instruments to try and work out how much time I had left. I remember something flashing past me to my left making me realize my time in the sky was nearly up. Grabbed hold of my safety harness and made sure they were tight. I pressed the PPT and said “Guys I think this is going to hurt”. I took one more breath as though it was my last. I don’t even know if I closed my eyes. Not having any flaps on this type of plane to slow myself down I impacted the side of a bank at around 120 mph. The de acceleration, I don’t know how my body survived. The composite structure held the basic shape of the aircraft quite well. The structure folded initially slamming my face into the instrument panel and my legs crunched up under the dashboard. The canopy had ejected and broken up. There were small pieces of broken aircraft everywhere.
The pain I have had to deal with I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel. I am known for living life on the edge but this caught me by surprise. I was conscious throughout the whole episode but don’t remember much about the time I spent sitting in the cockpit awaiting for any assistance. A local doctor was not far away and came to assist putting me on drips and taking me out of the wreckage. I had to explain how to get my very broken body out of the mangle wreck. The SAA Pilot in his Boeing 737 800 full of passengers diverted off his course and came flew to where he plotted where I would be and found me. He circled low overhead. Most of his passengers got to see the little dinky toy plane mangled on the ground. They took my GPS position and radioed them to Durban to forward to a rescue team, which first was a Police helicopter that came to the scene. After about an hour and a half of sitting wondering if I was going to die or not a 911 helicopter arrived from Pietermaritzburg where they were on Comrades marathon duty. There was a good paramedic on board that got to work on me straight away preparing me for my flight to the hospital. I have always wanted a helicopter ride but didn’t remember much of this one. The rescue team took me to St Augustine’s hospital where there were concerned friends already waiting. At this stage I was already on so many drugs I don’t remember much. The doctors were getting everything prepared for me. The orthopedic surgeon from what I heard took the situation under his control and got things on the go to start putting me back together. Starting with giving me blood and preparing me for the long surgeries to come. I spent a long time in ICU and 7 weeks in the ward. Went into theater many times to have much reconstruction done to my bones. The hospital staffs were great. Couldn’t have asked for better. They were at my every call to try make things more comfortable for me.
Most of the next six months I spent at home flat on my back with 24 hour parental care.
My injuries start with two shattered ankles, have had 3 pins and a plate put in the right ankle and also some dead mans bone to fill a gap. My left leg the Tibia and the fibula snapped and exited the side of my leg and into the dirt., cracked my pelvis, broke my coxes cracked a couple ribs, second degree burns covered my whole back, (this was caused by impact friction of a fraction of a second,) had my right elbow reconstructed, it now works on a metal frame, broke my left wrist which has now had a pin put in, cut my tendons which stopped my fingers from being able to close, I have had a tendant graft done which ties up all the existing tendants to make my fingers move. Displaced my jaw to the side and flattened my face needing my nose pulled out and plastic surgery, 3 Pints of blood. Many staples over my head I had a blood clot removed from my lower back, which was caused by splintered bone from my spine piercing nerves in the center of the spine creating damage to my nerves. This is something that is taking a long time to recover from. I had initially lost partial movement in my left leg and foot. Lost feeling in my bum and around my waist. Parts of my left leg and foot had no feeling either. I had lost all control over bowel and bladder.