SA Plane down in China

[tyrant]

From News24.com

SA plane crashes in China
28/05/2004 10:43 - (SA)

Beijing - A small South African-owned plane crashed on Friday in poor weather in central China, with the pilot, the only person on board, presumed dead, aviation officials said.

"It was a small plane carrying just one pilot. It belonged to South Africa. There were two planes that were in China for an air show," Huang Suihua, an official from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told AFP.

The plane was heading for Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, and came down in Hunan province near Dongting Lake, which neighbours Hubei.

"They took off from Guilin city (in southern Guangxi region). They wanted to land in Changsha (capital of Hunan) but the weather was bad so they decided to go to Wuhan. On the way the plane crashed. The pilot of the second plane reported it to us," said the official.

"The cause of the crash is not yet known. It may have dropped into the lake because we have been searching for five hours and haven't found it yet," he added.

[Deanw]

Really sad news.

A poster on another forum has stated that it is Alan Honeyborne who is missing. He was, with Ricky de Agrela, on a World Circumnavigation in microlights.

Let's still pray for a positive outcome.

[Deanw]

Bad news:

China crash: Body found
28/05/2004 13:25 - (SA)

Beijing - A small South African plane crashed on Friday in southern China, killing the pilot, the only person on board, the government said.

The plane, which was on a global charity mission, took off from the southern city of Guilin in the morning and was headed to Changsha in the neighboyring province of Hunan, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Bad weather forced the pilot to divert to Wuhan, the capital of the adjacent Hubei province, but the plane crashed into a lake before it could get there, Xinhua said.

The report did not provide any other details about the pilot or his mission.

Some 800 police officers, firemen and other rescue workers searched the banks of Dongting Lake and recovered the pilot's body on Friday evening, the agency said.

[manamana]

Very sad. On a charity mission too.
R.I.P. and condolences to the family and friends.

[Kalium Chloride]

From the Xinhua News Agency:

South African pilot appears in Hunan, mourns over friend
Hunan Province, May 29

Ricky de Agrela, the South African pilot who landed his plane in Wuhan Friday, arrived here Saturday noon to mourn over his deceased friend, who died in Friday's plane crash.

Agrela said he was very sad on hearing the death of his friend, Alan Honeyborne. They were just at the beginning of their 50-country flying trip.

He told Xinhua that he and the Honeyborne family were grateful to see the Chinese people, including officials and ordinary people, were so helpful in the search for his friend.

Agrela said he had to cancel the travel plan and go back to his country and his plane in Wuhan would be shipped back to South Africa after disassembling.

Two planes took off from the southern city of Guilin in Friday morning and were headed to Changsha. Bad weather forced the pilots to divert to Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, but one plane crashed into Dongting Lake in neighboring Hunan Province before it arrived.

Agrela said he lost contact with his friend when they flied northwest of Hunan's capital of Changsha in the morning. The body of a South African pilot was found in the lake close to Miluo City at about 6:30 p.m.

According to Agrela, the two pilots were flying two light planes on a global charity mission, financed by the South African government as part of the activities to mark the 10th anniversary of South Africa's abolishment of apartheid.

[Gunship]

:sad: Very sad news.

My condolences to the families and friends envolved.

RIP

:sad:

[4HolerPoler]

The saga continues. The chap who replaced Honeyborne has been killed in Belize. Sad news.
Pilot No 2 dies in fund-raiser

An ill-fated microlight fundraising flight around the world this week claimed the life of a Durban man who had stepped in to replace a pilot who was killed three months ago. Durban businessman Martin Walker, 51, was killed near Belize in South America on Thursday afternoon while taking a tourist for a spin in his plane. His death comes just months after Allan Honeyborne plunged to his death in central China.

The ill-fated "Freedom Flight" took off in Cape Town in December 2003 with the original team of Honeyborne and Ricky de Agrela.
Their dream was to fly across 50 countries and six continents in 18 months to raise money for Cape Town's Red Cross Children's Hospital and to celebrate 10 years of democracy and 100 years of powered flight. However, Honeyborne, 34, was killed in May after a wing on his plane broke off in dense cloud above central China. Urged on by well-wishers worldwide, De Agrela decided to continue with the mission.

Walker, an ex-chairman of the Microlight Association of South Africa and a close friend of Honeyborne, left in mid-July to join De Agrela in San Francisco. "Flying was one of his passions, and this was an opportunity to live his dream," said Walker's sister, who did not want to be named. "He literally did step into 'dead man's shoes'" she said. The pilots flew together to the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in, in Oshkosh, and then ventured south, following the Mississippi River. Walker's sister said his family in South Africa was able to monitor their progress on the internet because Walker had attached a satellite tracking device to his plane.

A posting on the expedition website www.safreedomflight.com on Wednesday evening said they had stopped off on an island called Ambergris Cay, close to Belize, for a few days. "We have taken a chill pill for a few days. This is a fantastic little spot, so do not send out the rescue missions if you do not hear much from us because this laid-back life style could get the better of us," De Agrela wrote just hours before the fatal crash. Walker's sister said: "We are not entirely sure what happened; they were somewhere in the Belize vicinity where they had stopped for a couple of days to service their planes. "Someone expressed interest in going up, the weather turned bad, they experienced difficulty and the plane crashed late on Thursday afternoon."

Walker's sister said: "There should be a full inquiry, but, at this stage, we don't know any more." It is not known if Walker's passenger survived the accident. Adrienne Coetzee, director of the Children's Hospital Trust, which is responsible for fund-raising for the Red Cross Children's Hospital, heard the news of Walker's death with "utter disbelief". "I can't believe this has happened again." Walker is survived by his wife, Nikki, a 13-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.

[Gunship]

:sad: Sjees how much sadder news can you get ? People fund raising and then two get killed.

Such a shame.

God Bless your hard work.