Another 210 crash Namibia
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Six survive as aircraft crash-lands in the desert
WERNER MENGES
A SIGHTSEEING flight came close to ending in death for a pilot and five passengers of a light aircraft at Swakopmund on Saturday, when their aeroplane flipped over after crash-landing at the end of a flight from Sossusvlei.
The aircraft of the Swakopmund-based Pleasure Flights aviation company - a Cessna 210, registration number V5-RGW - had taken off from Swakopmund Airport at about 14h30 on a flight to Sossusvlei, Ericksson Nengola, Director of Aircraft Accident Investigations in the Ministry of Works and Transport, told The Namibian from Swakopmund yesterday.
The aeroplane was piloted by a South African pilot, and had five passengers, understood to be German tourists, on board, Nengola said.
Disaster struck as the aircraft was about to land again at Swakopmund Airport at around 16h30.
According to the information available to him by yesterday afternoon, the aircraft was turning to make its final approach to the airport when its engine failed.
The pilot sent out a mayday call and carried out a landing in the desert some three kilometres from the airport.
But with the landing, the undercarriage of the plane collapsed, Nengola said.
The aircraft flipped over and suffered major damage.
The plane's engine was separated from the fuselage, the wings and tail section were damaged, and three of the plane's seats tore free from the cabin and lay scattered around the crash scene after the accident, Nengola said.
He said he had been informed that two of the passengers were still being treated in hospital by yesterday.
The pilot had already been discharged from hospital by then, and he had been able to interview him as part of the investigation, which is now underway, Nengola said.
SERIES OF CRASHES The crash is the fourth serious light aircraft accident in Namibia since October.
In all three previous incidents foreign visitors to Namibia were the passengers in aeroplanes that crashed shortly after take-off from Windhoek's Eros Airport.
A Namibian pilot and an Italian visitor to Namibia both died when a single-engined Beechcraft in which they had taken off from Eros Airport crashed near the Trade Centre building east of the airport shortly after take-off on October 22.
On January 11, a Cessna 210 aircraft crashed in the Olympia residential area east of the airport, also shortly after taking off, on a flight to Mokuti Lodge.
In that incident, a 24-year-old South African pilot and five Israeli passengers were killed when the aircraft exploded in flames after crashing.
The third crash was in Windhoek on May 9, when another Cessna 210, carrying a South African pilot, two French tourists and two American visitors to Namibia, crashed-landed in the grounds of TransNamib's Gammams Training Centre near the Pionierspark Cemetery when it experienced an engine problem shortly after take-off from Eros Airport.
No-one was killed in that incident, but the passengers suffered serious injuries.
WERNER MENGES
A SIGHTSEEING flight came close to ending in death for a pilot and five passengers of a light aircraft at Swakopmund on Saturday, when their aeroplane flipped over after crash-landing at the end of a flight from Sossusvlei.
The aircraft of the Swakopmund-based Pleasure Flights aviation company - a Cessna 210, registration number V5-RGW - had taken off from Swakopmund Airport at about 14h30 on a flight to Sossusvlei, Ericksson Nengola, Director of Aircraft Accident Investigations in the Ministry of Works and Transport, told The Namibian from Swakopmund yesterday.
The aeroplane was piloted by a South African pilot, and had five passengers, understood to be German tourists, on board, Nengola said.
Disaster struck as the aircraft was about to land again at Swakopmund Airport at around 16h30.
According to the information available to him by yesterday afternoon, the aircraft was turning to make its final approach to the airport when its engine failed.
The pilot sent out a mayday call and carried out a landing in the desert some three kilometres from the airport.
But with the landing, the undercarriage of the plane collapsed, Nengola said.
The aircraft flipped over and suffered major damage.
The plane's engine was separated from the fuselage, the wings and tail section were damaged, and three of the plane's seats tore free from the cabin and lay scattered around the crash scene after the accident, Nengola said.
He said he had been informed that two of the passengers were still being treated in hospital by yesterday.
The pilot had already been discharged from hospital by then, and he had been able to interview him as part of the investigation, which is now underway, Nengola said.
SERIES OF CRASHES The crash is the fourth serious light aircraft accident in Namibia since October.
In all three previous incidents foreign visitors to Namibia were the passengers in aeroplanes that crashed shortly after take-off from Windhoek's Eros Airport.
A Namibian pilot and an Italian visitor to Namibia both died when a single-engined Beechcraft in which they had taken off from Eros Airport crashed near the Trade Centre building east of the airport shortly after take-off on October 22.
On January 11, a Cessna 210 aircraft crashed in the Olympia residential area east of the airport, also shortly after taking off, on a flight to Mokuti Lodge.
In that incident, a 24-year-old South African pilot and five Israeli passengers were killed when the aircraft exploded in flames after crashing.
The third crash was in Windhoek on May 9, when another Cessna 210, carrying a South African pilot, two French tourists and two American visitors to Namibia, crashed-landed in the grounds of TransNamib's Gammams Training Centre near the Pionierspark Cemetery when it experienced an engine problem shortly after take-off from Eros Airport.
No-one was killed in that incident, but the passengers suffered serious injuries.
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If he really ran the tank dry by forgetting to interchange tanks, they should ground the man for ever. Not only does it pull down the reputation and standards of pilots from SA (again!) but raptures nonscheduled 210 flights even further.
The first thing that comes to mind on engine starvation is to switch tanks immediatly, check mixture, boost pump on, magnetos - if windmilling doesn't start it: use the starter... bla bla - would be interesting to know from the pax if he even attempted to restart. Even with Vapour in the lines-with boost pump and medium throttle setting it should of worked if 500ft AGL or more were maintained.
I don't know but IMHO seems both accidents that involved the Atlantic Aviation/ Pleasure Flights group, where due to serious pilot errors. The production of this aircraft was discontinued as the company was being sued because many private pilots in the States were too incompetent to handle it. The C210 curse over Namibia is probably there to stay if people involved will not wake up. I believe it is not the aircrafts fault.
The first thing that comes to mind on engine starvation is to switch tanks immediatly, check mixture, boost pump on, magnetos - if windmilling doesn't start it: use the starter... bla bla - would be interesting to know from the pax if he even attempted to restart. Even with Vapour in the lines-with boost pump and medium throttle setting it should of worked if 500ft AGL or more were maintained.
I don't know but IMHO seems both accidents that involved the Atlantic Aviation/ Pleasure Flights group, where due to serious pilot errors. The production of this aircraft was discontinued as the company was being sued because many private pilots in the States were too incompetent to handle it. The C210 curse over Namibia is probably there to stay if people involved will not wake up. I believe it is not the aircrafts fault.
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I keep reading about these accidents in Namibia and cant help but wonder what the problems are. There is obviously some underlying factors that are causing these crashes, as they are a frequent occurance. You just need to look across the border to Botswana and see that its a different story their.
The number of flight movements from Maun are probably at least equal to or greater than those in Namibia collectivley. They operate the same types of aircraft (206s,210s), employ the same demographic of pilots (Safas, Poms, Kiwis, OZys) and do similar types of flying (bush/scenic). YET the accident rate in Botswana seems to be far less than the neighbouring brother Namibia..... I dont have actual numbers, but it certainly appears that over the last 5-6 years there have been very few accidents in Botswana compared to Namibia.
There is obviously several factors which could be responsible for these accidents...........
1. Maintanence is not up to the same standards?
2. Pilot training or experience levels differ?
3. Company operating procedures are not satisfactory?
Im not saying Botswana is perfect, but I personally remember arriving from NZ to fly in Maun and being impressed with the level of training and maintanence. Maybe Namibia should take a leaf out of their book.......
The number of flight movements from Maun are probably at least equal to or greater than those in Namibia collectivley. They operate the same types of aircraft (206s,210s), employ the same demographic of pilots (Safas, Poms, Kiwis, OZys) and do similar types of flying (bush/scenic). YET the accident rate in Botswana seems to be far less than the neighbouring brother Namibia..... I dont have actual numbers, but it certainly appears that over the last 5-6 years there have been very few accidents in Botswana compared to Namibia.
There is obviously several factors which could be responsible for these accidents...........
1. Maintanence is not up to the same standards?
2. Pilot training or experience levels differ?
3. Company operating procedures are not satisfactory?
Im not saying Botswana is perfect, but I personally remember arriving from NZ to fly in Maun and being impressed with the level of training and maintanence. Maybe Namibia should take a leaf out of their book.......
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I also worked there for 4 years (Swakop and Whk) and arrived there like all my friends "factory fresh" in terms of experience. We didnt have any crashes (there were a couple of close calls though) but our boss kept his fingers on us 24/7 and frequently flew with us just to check things out! I mean, thats how we learn? An we still had great fun! Maintenance in Nam I always thought was very good. Not changing a fuel selector in over 2 hours? Not very wise! Thats basics but I guess his close call was just that last centimeter too close.
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Agree with Knormoer, regular check rides or line checks tend to keep guys in line with company policy and should be a must on a regular basis. KEEP GUYS ON THEIR TOES
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I was told by my nephew, who also spent quite some time up in nam flying 210s that most of the guys there are guys that (like himself) could not get into other companies, for whatever reason. usually extremely low time chaps, and not always the sharpest tools in the shed.
This by his own admittance, as one such pilot, who just scraped through. Obviously after a few thousand hours he is now flying for a domestic carrier, and has caught up, but he says that is the weakness of the nam crews.
This by his own admittance, as one such pilot, who just scraped through. Obviously after a few thousand hours he is now flying for a domestic carrier, and has caught up, but he says that is the weakness of the nam crews.
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I used to fly alot in swakop and did many hours in the same a/c (V5-RGW) is was n very good and strong 210..but about a year go she started to give some problems with the magnetos and pissing oil out bigtime.. She wasn't flying alot at all and almost took a friend down whom was flying a photo-shoot(problems with the valves) but he got her back to Walvisbaai...I don't know anything about the crash but I do now that A/C had big engin problems....
Just glad everybody is alive!!
Just glad everybody is alive!!
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If the aerie was known to have problems - then there is a serious problem in that operation - don't they report the misperformance ? If this led to the forced landing it should be investigated. Talk about Happy go lucky ?
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It was confirmed today....fuel starvation. the ouk was pushing his luck!!! operators should be ontop of this type of thing. 
its truly sad to see a fellow competitor go out of the game, but if you cannot run a business of this calibre then i cant see it happening any other way. its just been happening too often, last crash they had 5 people lost there lives, all because these pilots are not trained or exposed correctly.
please correct me if i'm wrong.
good bye atlantic, good bye pleasure flights.
its truly sad to see a fellow competitor go out of the game, but if you cannot run a business of this calibre then i cant see it happening any other way. its just been happening too often, last crash they had 5 people lost there lives, all because these pilots are not trained or exposed correctly.
please correct me if i'm wrong.
good bye atlantic, good bye pleasure flights.
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Pleasure flights and Anlantic was a VERY good company and I do agree that things are falling apart bigtime...and personally think the problem starts with management by "holding" pilots back from improving their skill. Not controlling fuel has no excuse and is FULLY pilot error and feeling very bad for the pilot cause I know how many pilots 
-up on fuel control(BIGTIME) and get away with it......
All I hope is that PFS and AA will pick up what is left and its upto the pilots to get this company where is used to be...
happy landing boys
-up on fuel control(BIGTIME) and get away with it......All I hope is that PFS and AA will pick up what is left and its upto the pilots to get this company where is used to be...
happy landing boys
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Pleasure flights and Atlantic are the only pilots(and also DA) who still got the good vibe/spirrit for flying !!!but they have to pull their finger out of their ass!! cause things are getting bad..
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Add a couple of Tafel lagers and Windhoek lagers in the mix the night before and try and fly the next day.......???????
Curios....Swakopmund reputation???
Curios....Swakopmund reputation???
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I've been flying in Nambia for 2 years and have been very shocked 
by the growing number of incidences that have been happening recently!
First of all fuel starvation due to forgetting to change tanks is unexcusable!
And this is not the first time this has happened in Swakopmund, not long ago another 210 went down just before the threshold due to forgetting the fuel selector!
In my opinion the reason is due to cowboy pilots being unproffessional and putting peoples lives on the line! Flying is NOT a game!
Yes its fun going low level, doing formation with 7 other aircraft, dodging trees, powerlines, sand dunes etc..But if you want to do that, do it with your own aircraft and by yourself!
The probable reason that the pilot of the latest incident didn't change tanks after the one going dry is cause he was doing a base leg at 50ft, at that height there is no time to do anything!
I also believe that training for the scenic pilots is not enough. At the end of the day, the 210 isn't the easiest plane to fly, production was discontined for a reason!
Some companies require 50hrs of training on the 210 before pilots go 'online', and you don't hear of them having any problems!!
2 things must change: Training and Mentality!
Keep it safe guys....
by the growing number of incidences that have been happening recently!First of all fuel starvation due to forgetting to change tanks is unexcusable!
And this is not the first time this has happened in Swakopmund, not long ago another 210 went down just before the threshold due to forgetting the fuel selector!In my opinion the reason is due to cowboy pilots being unproffessional and putting peoples lives on the line! Flying is NOT a game!
Yes its fun going low level, doing formation with 7 other aircraft, dodging trees, powerlines, sand dunes etc..But if you want to do that, do it with your own aircraft and by yourself!
The probable reason that the pilot of the latest incident didn't change tanks after the one going dry is cause he was doing a base leg at 50ft, at that height there is no time to do anything!
I also believe that training for the scenic pilots is not enough. At the end of the day, the 210 isn't the easiest plane to fly, production was discontined for a reason!
Some companies require 50hrs of training on the 210 before pilots go 'online', and you don't hear of them having any problems!!
2 things must change: Training and Mentality!
Keep it safe guys....
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Agreed Bush Captain..I was one of those pilots that worked for the company that offers 50hrs "online training" and was one of the instructors that did the training for those guys. Did have a couple of incidents but that was due to aircraft problems and not the pilots fault..We used to enforce the 3month recurrency training and forced landing training..I dont know if they still do it but the amount of hours they fly and the amount or could say the lack of incidents and accidents...reflects back onto training.
Companies should enforce more training on pilots and should screen their pilots better.
Companies should enforce more training on pilots and should screen their pilots better.
