A bit of old news (happened a week or so ago) .. but then Gunsss hates to miss these reports for you guys and gals ...
Ripley's believe it or not ..
To use a national highway as a runway is a challenge commercial pilot Carlos Garcia Cabral never thought he would be facing.
But that was exactly what he will probably be doing on Tuesday, thanks to a pilot who nabbed his Cessna 206 Turbo from a hangar at Pretoria's Wonderboom airport, flew around for more than an hour-and-a-half and landed it on the N4 highway near Bronkhorstspruit.
"I can't believe I'm standing in the middle of the road next to my plane," Cabral said from the scene on Tuesday. 'I'm dumbstruck'
The aircraft, a so-called "jump-ship", was used every weekend to transport parachutists at Modimolle (Nylstroom) in Limpopo, he said.
The Cessna was brought to Wonderboom on Sunday for its 100-hourly inspection.
It was taken to the maintenance section where it stood on Monday.
Between 5pm on Monday and 5am on Tuesday, probably about 1am, someone boarded the aircraft and took off.
The flight instruments recorded that it was flown around for 1,6 hours, Cabral said.
The plane then ran out of fuel and an emergency landing was performed on the N4 west between Witbank and Pretoria.
The thief turned the aircraft off the road, left it there and took flight - without wings this time.
"I'm dumbstruck. He really knew what he was doing - especially with this model without engine power (because of lack of fuel) and at night. It is superhuman." There did not seem to be any damage to the aircraft, but Cabral said he was waiting for inspectors from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ascertain that.
With that assurance, and once traffic officers had cleared a stretch of the road to be used as a runway, Cabral would fly off once again - probably around noon.
"It's as hard as it gets." But he added that as an experienced commercial pilot and flying instructor he did not expect any problems.
Cabral said the CAA had already impounded the radio transcript. The police's forensic team would search the aircraft for fingerprints. The security company at Wonderboom would also be involved in trying to locate the arrogant aviator.
"Hopefully we'll track him down." Cabral said he was very grateful to have his beloved aircraft back, but was also amazed that there seemed to be no cars around at the time of the landing and that nobody was hurt.
"God was watching." - Sapa
Then a later report ...
After establishing that there seemed to be nothing wrong with the aircraft, Cabral flew it back to Wonderboom, using the highway as a runway like the pirate pilot did.
Police Captain Piletji Sebola said part of the westbound half of the highway was closed for about 15 minutes around 11.30am for the take-off.
Cabral used about 300m of road to gather momentum before taking to the skies. By midday, the runway was a highway again, reserved for land traffic.
"Now we are only left with the investigation," Sebola said. "At this stage we have no idea who the suspect is."
Statements would be taken from all people who could be able to assist the police in their investigation. Fingerprints were taken as well, he said.
Wonderboom airport manager Peet van Rensburg said he did not know how the theft was accomplished.
"The whole thing still remains a puzzle to us... What we do know is that that specific aircraft took off this morning."
According to him, it was possible that the thief used his pilot's licence to persuade the security guard on duty that he was allowed to take the aircraft.
The registration numbers of all cars that did not have a staff sticker were taken down when they entered the airport premises. From now on, all cars' registration numbers would be taken down at night, regardless of whether they had the sticker, he said.
Van Rensburg said he had worked at the airport since 1994 and in that time no such incidents had occurred. There was an aircraft theft several years ago, before he started working there, but he did not know any details about that.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesperson Trevor Davids said Wonderboom was a so-called unmanned aerodrome between 7pm and 7am daily. That meant that the control tower was not staffed for the 12-hour period, and arrangements for permission to fly from there had to be obtained from Johannesburg International Airport.
Davids said the CAA's involvement with the incident was minimal, unlike what it would have been had there been an accident.
The authority had established that the aircraft had landed safely, its investigator had checked matters like the fuel level and it was part of an advisory group on how to move it from the road.
"It is a criminal case of theft that the South African Police Service is investigating," Davids said. - Sapa
Only in South Africa ...