Grand Van down at Eros and Helicopter at Okapuka
 

Guys and girls,

Just heard terrible news via several grapevines, that a Grand Van has crashed at Eros airport, Windhoek, near the horse stables.

Dont know more than that.

Stierado :(

Very sad day again for Eros...

ZS-OTU, One pilot dead. 3 more injured...
On its way to Angola with building materials...

Rest in Peace, you'll be missed in Luanda...
:sad:

Something like 3 dead.

Taking off runway 19.....

The press says 4 on board, 2 killed. RIP


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Caravan1-3.jpg


Picture curtesy of the Republikein.

Van
 

The van took off just before 7 with 4, including the pilot. inside info have it that the plane could have been overloade and the gusty winds early in the mornig could have had some role to play. this is unconfirmed. 2 people passed away however. One on the seen and the other at Katetura hospital.

Sad day once again for Namibian aviation. Thoughts & prayers go out to all.

Thoughts go out to the families. That must surely be more than gusty winds and overload ?

Rising terrain in all directions when off of 19 at FYWE, necessitating some maneuvering before heading off up north...

Just for general info:

Taking off RWY 19 at Eros is seriously not ever to be recommended, exept if the wind is blowing at a headwind with a constant speed and direction of 12knots or more and the air is stable. I guess in a C208, even if loaded to the MTOW, RWY 01 will always be the better option to choose, as the runway length is sufficiant for this type of aircraft even with a considerable amount of tailwind.

Sad news and I hope that the above reasons did not play a role in the crash because then it could have been avoidable.

All the papers have the story today:

www.az.com.na

www.republikein.com.na

www.namibian.com.na

Sad news :(

PS Not to jump into any lengthy discussions here, but Propellorpilot I think the Grand Van has a 10kt tailwind limit for performance

Grand Van down at Eros
 

Sad news indeed. I agree with Propellerpilot though. Rwy 19 must be accepted with careful consideration. Some mediums can even takeoff Rwy 01 with a good load flapless. I hope that operators and the DCA are taking there mishaps seriously!

The only two METARs for EROS I can find for the 15th:

SA 15/11/2009 13:00->

METAR FYWE 151300Z 23010KT //// VV/// 32/01 Q1017=

SA 15/11/2009 12:00->

METAR FYWE 151200Z 36012KT 320V020 //// VV/// 31/01 Q1018=

Unless this was significantly different at the time of the crash, it's not very clear to me why RWY 19 was used....

Sad news, anyhow :(

From the A.Z. article:

''Augenzeugen zufolge sei die Caravan sehr lange die Startbahn von Norden nach Süden hinuntergerollt, einen Teil der Strecke mit „bereits angehobenem Bugrad“, bevor sie abgehoben und langsam an Höhe gewonnen habe, dann aber nach rechts abgedreht und plötzlich abgestürzt sei. Dem Ministeriumssprecher zufolge habe der Pilot kurz vor dem Absturz mitgeteilt, dass er Schwierigkeiten habe, an Höhe zu gewinnen.''

Translated as best I can without twisting the meaning:

''According to witnesses the caravan rolled very far down the runway from north to south, part of the distance with the nosewheel already in the air, before lifting off and slowly gaining height, but then banked to the right and suddenly plummeted down. According to the ministry's spokesman the pilot had transmitted that he was having difficulties gaining altitude, before crashing.''

172, the takeoff was at 07:00 local, was it not?

Doodle, I couldn't find the time of the accident, and as I said, these two METARs are the only historical ones I could dig up. If you know of the METAR at the time of t/o that might shed some light on the event.

If anything can be inferred from these two, then that the wind was pretty variable.

I'm not finding any METAR for the early morning, either. I remember reading that the wind was said to have been gusty, though. That agrees with your thoughts.

RWY19
 

A very very sad accident indeed, and my condolences to all family touched by this. There are always questions that needs to be answered!! What was the experience of the pilot?, and by the sound of things weight might have been a issue!!!!. Will be appreciated if someone can give me more info about the operator (who did the pilot work for?). Hope this is not a classic case where a relatively low experienced pilot was expected to fly hopelessly overweight for his boss and actually took the chance and in the process killed three other people too!. According to the reports one passenger was on his way to Rio Longa which is owned by Henk Burger which also owns Wings Over Africa, have not heard good things about them at all. :=

''According to witnesses the caravan rolled very far down the runway from north to south, part of the distance with the nosewheel already in the air, before lifting off and slowly gaining height, but then banked to the right and suddenly plummeted down. According to the ministry's spokesman the pilot had transmitted that he was having difficulties gaining altitude, before crashing.''

Having close to 2k hours in the Van, I remember all too well those days loaded near MTOW, and after a long t/o roll the aircraft barely climbing. Its a horrible feeling, the way the plane would just hang there after rotation, keeping your fingers crossed, hoping she'll climb... My deepest sympathies to all involved.

Sad sad accident.

Piapito - be careful bringing people and companies into this that you don't know much about :oh:

Looking at the pics, something does not seem right: Flaps are retracted. The Van lying about a mile or so from the end of the runway, and the pilot struggling to get height after takeoff, the flaps should surely still be at takeoff position?

Well spotted, Axe123. Rated van-drivers, are there parameters within which you'd elect to go flapless and accept a longer ground-roll, for a better climb once airborne? (is this a legal option according to the AFM?)
Mind you, you'd expect a body to want some flap out when faced with a low, heavy and slow 180-degree turn fairly soon after airborne..