a goodbye
 

To our friends Capt and F/O, may you rest in the knowledge that you were brilliant guys, excellent pilots and good friends.
To friends, families and collegues our thoughts are with you in this troubled time.
Thank you to our SAR teams who flew in difficult circumstances searching for our lost friends.
Africa, esp DRC, is as we all know one of the most trecherous environments and to everyone flying here, continue the good work you are doing and fly safe. For those not in africa understand this is completly different to anything you have ever experienced, in time you will understand.
In time old friends will be reunited...Bye for now my friends..

I still spoke to the poor guy on friday morning at Goma.. If i am not mistaken, he had just moved up to Goma from Lubumbashi after spending a while there and seemed relieved to be in a new place..

I also flew to Beni and back that day from Goma and the weather was not bad, just the usual clouds around the mountains at about 12000ft. I hate to say this but I think the one of the only ways that he could have flown into the 17000ft mountain is if he was not briefed on the routing that all the aircraft flying to Bunia/Beni take from Goma. That mountain is covered in cloud 90% of the time and friday was no different..

I did however hear from the aviation medicine doc at Goma (SA contingent working for UN), that the wreckage was spread over about 150mtr with no real visible impact point..

RIP guys, another sad loss to the aviation community

A Guillaumet team we need!
 

Dear colleagues, friends and families,

Please consider that there are still chances.
As long as you're not proven the contrary there's still a chance!

Henry Guillaumet crashed his Potez 25 in 1930 in the Andes on his 92nd crossing of the cordillera. He's been then walking for a week and finally arrived to a village after crossing three chains of mountains.

So as long as we're not proven the contrary, there's still hope for our friends!
It's not time for condoleances... it's time to go there and get them back!

A team will start an expedition tomorrow to get there. It's going to be hard walking, can take days, but in the meantime let's stop speculating and criticisms... it's not the time for this... we'll have time when our friends will be back!

Regards to all,


Reviens nono!

anyone knows captain's name?

Thoughts go out to friends, families, loved ones and of course the operator of the C208B. It must be an incredibly hard time for all at the moment and hopefully they know that many people's prayers and thoughts are with them.

:{ Sad this is. Any accident where lives are lost, is a tragedy, period. Lives are irreplaceable.
My thoughts to the families and friends of all involved. My best wishes and condolences, may all of us involved in aviation learn and grow safer allways.
One should focus to learn from such tragedies, support the people and companies involved and thus, make positive contributions.
This start off with training, with planning, contracts, maintenance, ATCs, airfield personnel, everybody, my wish it that all will work together in a supportive spirit to make flying the safe, fun and professional thing to do.

So sad the whole event! Really does take the fun and pleasure of flying in Africa when things like this happen. My thoughts are with the families and friends involved.

Pointer41- I agree with you that we must all stick together and learn from this! We do not know what went wrong yet, and it is always easy in hind sight to speculate. But I do feel that having flown in many a region around this treacharous continent including the Kivu region, that not enough emphasis is based on regional knowledge. The so called contract pilots do not have a very good reputation in the well established airline, more SOP orientated environment, and yet they are a special breed of pilots that make do with the little support and information available to them. The dispatch rate of aircraft on contract is too high considering what the real operating minima would be in the more controlled Airline or Charter market. I have been there and done that many a day with several of the African contract operators and been lucky to live to tell the story. Companies are too money driven to get contracts and make profit to actually stop and take time to think how they could improve safety. Hour requirements drop each year and more and more inexperienced crew are placed to do the job that years ago high hour crew were doing. Crew get hired with lower experience then ever before and are put in the field to fill shoes of much more experienced ones. There is no short cut to experience!

It all ofcourse boils down to time and money again on the companies behalf. But with us crew not enough regional knowledge is passed on from more experienced crew to new arrivals. There are regions on the continent that I have been placed into by several operators to do a job with no handover. As crew you have to try and absorb as much information from other operators in the area and try and survive. Operatators should place more emphasis on passing required important operational information to new crews.
It is hard to do but still there should be more open discussions on region specific advice. In the deepest darkest corner its the inside/infield information that allow for the task on hand to be completed safely. Operating minima take a whole new meaning when out in the field.

Contract flying has improved over the last decade and has become more SOP orientated with better maintenance. It is only due to the good operating skills and judgement of each experienced pilot out there that there have not been more accidents and incidents.

Lets learn from this and prevent future accidents!

In Africa there is always tomorrow... no pressure pilots!

KESHO

Well said, boet!:ok:

My honest condolences to all involved …

Not time for flying lessons nor condoleances
 

Hi guys,

Sorry to say so but it's not time for flying lessons nor condoleances...
An expedition is on its way.
There are chances still and i refuse to admit it is over yet as we still see from time to time our friend the copilot appearing on MSN messenger as online for short periods everyday... he has a laptop with bluetooth and cellphone... there is a password to access his msn... so right now i think he is alive!!

So let's wait and see and certainly not abandon searches!

I'll keep you advised of this...
Cheers

Is there anybody thinking here??
 

I would appreciate that everybody could stop speculating on what happened or not... Nobody even knows anything and we should all pray to see our friend alive. I think about his family waiting for him, and loosing hope day after day. Can you imagine one of them reading such things??
For him... keep relax and stop relating bad news.
Thanks a lot...
Why it happened, when, where, how... no matter but knowing if heart is still beating...
Just think about this please...

It's why it's called a rumour network....

Anyone have anymore news about the wreckage or news of survivors.
Safe flying guys please!
Cheers

link
 

http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200605011075.html

All we can really say for now is there...

We should get more news today as the expedition stopped for the night but was getting near last night.

Any update on the situation? Hope to hear good news soon!!

progression
 

The progression of the ground Search and rescue team is made difficult by bad weather.
Yesterday night they were splitted in two to follow two different ways up.
They had to stop for the night at about 2 km of the crash site.

More updates today hopefully.

It's a very difficult and eventually dangerous climb on the Margherita Peak and specially during the little rainy season... we can only wait for news... no rumour or speculation is usefull to anybody in the meantime.

Our friend appeared again on Msn Messenger last night at 1700z which still give us hope that he's alive.

Regards

Hi Tyfilou
Which friend appearing on MSN are you referring to?

It's over
 

The Ground Search team has reached the plane and
found three bodies.

Condoleances and regards to families and friends....

Condolences and prayers for our friends and their families.
Have the names been released yet?
RIP

:sad: :sad:
Condolences and prayers to families and friends.

May they rest in peace, and may their memories never leave us.

Very sorry to hear!! May they rest in peace...!

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the lost...

May you rest in peace...

Sad
 

Hi all

Today is a realy sad day in aviation we have lost 2 very good pilots.I knew the Capt of that ship very well him and his wife.I am in a sence glad to say that they went out of this worl toghter and wil be together for all iternity I am just realy sad that the other crew member had to leave his wife and kids behind they are all in a better place now.

They defnitley made aviation a better place to be in and wil save alot of lives on the long run.So I would please like to ask the ppl that fly in Africa (and I know africa its not a place for scary pilots) but please if you are a captian on a plane dont be scared to turn the plane around if the Wx gets bad its not so bad or u feel uncumfy with the flight.

Then to there families my deepest condolences to u and the lost that u are sufering.He was a dearest friend and the best.To his wifes family and friends she was the same as her hubby very good friend to have in your corner.Then I dont know the F/O well but to his family aswel my deepest condolences.

Then to them that knew the Captein have a Vodca or Amstel Lager on them tonight.

WE WILL MISS U GUYS HEY BOET U WERE THE BEST FRIEND EVER ADN LIEFIE U 2 U WILL ALWAYS LIVE ON IN OUR HEARTS C U SOON!!!!!!

:uhoh: :{

R.I.P my old friend...you'll be missed on the balcony in the desert

My good friend:{ going to miss you. To all the friends and family my condolences. He was a gentelman of gentelmen wont forget the good times boet.:{ :{

Van down in the Congo
 

You will be missed by your wee Jock friend. RIP my friend. To all your friends and family you are in my thoughts.

To Our Dear Friends
 

To our dear friend and his lovely wife, you enriched our lives and brought happiness to everyone with whom you crossed paths. We will all miss the genuine friendship, good times and happy smiles. Your kindness was appreciated by all. Thank you for all the heart to heart chats and for never hesitating to go out of your way to make sure those around you were comfortable and happy. Honest friends like you two do not come along every day. I know you are together right now looking down on us and having a good laugh. We will see you again soon my friend's and when we do, this round is on me.

My condolenses go to the family's and friends who have lost loved ones in this sad week for aviation. Our thought's and prayers are with you all.

To my friend who flew the grand van so high.
Everytime we drink you shall be toasted up there in the sky.
You were a great boss but you will never be lost.
I didnt know you as long as others but you were a legend and you will always be one.
I know that you are in the great brewery where you will never have to pay for a drink.
Your spirit will always live on my friend!
Cheers Boet

Heard that another two aircraft have been reported missing (C406??), not sure where but supposedly from Fugro Airborne Surveys in Lanseria? Any more info much appreciated...

It may have already been discussed, I haven't gone through every thread.

My goodness, you are on the ball, from Melbourne nogal...

Where did you hear this ???

I used to work in Africa and heard this from a friends friend... Not sure if the information is entirely true and I hope its not...

Just to confirm i work for fugro and our C406 are all ok none of them are missing.

Any Names?
 

Are there any names being made public yet?
A lot of our aircrew move on from us to Charter Companies at Lanseria, especially on the C208 and B1900.
Perhaps someone could drop me a PM.
Condolences to the families left behind.

Names
 

Please if anyone knows, could you pm me the names of the crew and the wife who were killed in this tragic accident.
Many thanks

Never a good thing when people die needlessly.
Our local newspaper has published the 2 names of the South Africans. Is there a specific reason no-one is making them known here?

Bye

Freelander - I do agree with you it is such a SAD event that should not have happened! To speculate we can all day long, but knowing the region and general accident investigation on this continent we will never know what exactly happened onboard that Caravan.

I do think that we can only learn from the accidents.

In this industry it is the so called professional pilot who always draws the short straw. I have flown in the area with various aircraft and know what is it is like to be out there doing the job.

This in my books is the problem:
Every year more inexperienced guys are given the same jobs with less money. Standards have gone down there is no question about it. I am not referring to the Goma incident but aviation flying standards from crew in general on this continent. Nowadays a commercial license holder is allowed to fly as Captain of a B190 only because there is a shortage of ATPL holders. Excess insurance policies are taken out all the time because the operating crew do not meet the minimum required hours. You can only ask has the safety impoved with this...I dont think so!

Freelander -I feel that you are right in saying the contract pilots do a great job out in the field especially in the mentionned company. But, majority of the flying experience is self taught through different experiences, ie. trial and error. I have been there and done that already. There is no training what so ever. Contracting is just a job at the end of the day. The pilots arent really any better than in the airline environment. Flying a Caravan out of 300 meter air strips is just as challenging as flying a 747 out of 2300 meter strips. At the end of the day it all boils down to having the required experience for the task at hand. I feel the experience levels are too low for the posts given!

Condolences to all families left behind.

To all friends and family,

the service for the captain and his spouse will take place on friday the 19th may at 13:00, at the Marathana church, cnr of Dann and Veld rd's Kempton park.

I wont be able to attend but will be thinking of every one on friday

LIGP

Crew Identity?
 

My access to the South African Newspapers is intermittent, so is it possible to get the crew names now please?

On other matters I would also like to endorse how vital it is in this region to get a proper handover and briefing from the aircrew and operator when a new crew takes over.
We had our Van in Uganda for 3 months a couple of years ago. Although our crew was experienced, each region has its peculiarites. Our first flight into the DRC in partial VFR at Fl12 was a real eye opener. On the return leg we were sure to check our oxygen system and Fl 21 performance for when we needed it.
But I must add the local information, co-operation and advice we got, especially from Airserv and other local crew was fantastic. Entebe is a very freindly place.

Regulus
 

Its always sad when lives are lost. In aviation all of us become familiar with loss of dear friends. And though grief does cloud reason at times but we do need to take a pragmatic approach and try and learn what happened so that we may be able to use this knowledge to make it safer for all of us.
I currently operate out of goma and I completely agree that a proper handing over/briefing of new crew in the area can not be over stressed.
Since I am here I did get to know certain facts about the crash of caravan UN43W, There was a lot of turbulence that day in the vicinity of the Rwenzories , where the crash took place. and the peaks are almost always covered in clouds. Most aircraft in the area fly anything between 9500 to 12500. And almost every one follows a routing to avoid the Rwenzori mountain range and follow shores of lake edward till you come north of lake to take a route where you can avoid high ground. There is a flight following system in place which monitors ops normal calls and logs the GPS position of all UN aeroplanes every 20 minutes. According to Flt following logs the caravan had reportrd altitude as 22000' in last call. Analysis of GPS position reports made by the caravan show that it travelled just 28 miles along the track between the last two calls a time period of appx 30 min! . There is of course the possibility of the GPS co-ordinates being wrongly interpreted or transmitted. And finally the crash site was located at a height of more than 12000'. I did manage to get some pictures of the crash site but I am not able to attach them here . I will put them on my web page soon.

I also flew the Goma Beni route the day the van crashed, took off at 0800 in the morning, and the wind was pumping.. We had a heavy crosswind at Beni and on the Northern side of lake edward had about 15 degrees of drift from the east (Fl 075).. cloud was scattered around Rwenzori from about 10000 ft up,if i remember correctly.