flyboy2
16th Sep 2005, 20:36
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"Father and son cheat death after plane drama "
By Murray Williams
Stuck in the sky in an aircraft, with no wheels to land on, is not the most attractive proposition.
Yet this is where a Cape father and son found themselves this week.
On Thursday, after their potentially fatal ordeal, Wolseley wine farmer Prop Lategan and his son Louis were cheery, but still fielding calls with the message: "We can't believe you're alive!"
On Thursday, after their potentially fatal ordeal, Wolseley wine farmer Prop Lategan and his son Louis were cheery, but still fielding calls with the message: "We can't believe you're alive!"
Mid-afternoon on Tuesday, they took to the skies from the tar runway on their farm Bergsig.
"We were on a training flight, headed for Worcester," Lategan said. His son was piloting the plane.
"But after we got airborne, the wheels wouldn't retract fully. I said to him, 'Let's put the wheels down again', but nothing happened.
The aeroplane, a single-engined Cessna 210 Centurion, has two landing gear systems - one hydraulic, one manual - but nothing worked."
They called Stellenbosch air field, where the plane's landing gear had last been repaired.
"But there was no point landing at Stellenbosch without emergency teams, so we decided to declare an emergency and fly to Cape Town International."
Fortunately, Lategan sen is a former commanding officer of 110 SA Air Force Squadron at Ysterplaat and has been a pilot for 46 years. And his son is no slouch either, with 17 years' flying experience.
On arrival, they were instructed to perform a low-level fly-past so that those in the air control tower could inspect their landing gear. The front wheel was half-out, but there was no sign of the main rear wheels.
There was only one option: straight down on to the tar on the plane's belly.
"We decided to do a glide approach and cut the engine completely so that the propeller was still, to minimise damage to the propeller or engine should it cut into the ground.
I was fairly calm, but surely my heart beat a bit faster. I knew our chances were quite good.
"We went through our emergency drills: safety belts extra tight, fire extinguisher ready, doors open" - so that they could sprint away from the aircraft the moment it landed.
"The plane carried 400 litres of aviation fuel "and that can make quite a large fire".
They were asked to land on a secondary runway. Pilots and onlookers held their breaths.
"The right-hand wing touched tar and she started to broadside to the right. I was rather afraid that it could flip on to its back. But fortunately we were not going too fast and we just swung around, facing the direction we'd come from."
"You have three priorities," said Lategan jun. "To get out of the plane alive, to damage the plane as little as possible, and to cause as little havoc as possible on the runway.
"I think we succeeded quite well on the first two, but not the third."
They had been asked to land on a secondary runway, but came to rest dead centre on the main runway.
"There was a delay for the other aircraft, quite a number of passenger aircraft," said Lategan sen. "One circled at Robben Island. And one plane couldn't wait any longer, for fear of running out of fuel, and set off for Port Elizabeth."
They were surrounded by emergency services, which cleared up the mess and called the aircraft back.
"At this stage, we don't know the damage in rands, but it will be quite substantial," said Lategan sen.
"Our phones just don't stop. My wife has a full-time job here at home!"
[email protected]
This article was originally published on page 11 of The Cape Argus on September 16, 2005
"Father and son cheat death after plane drama "
By Murray Williams
Stuck in the sky in an aircraft, with no wheels to land on, is not the most attractive proposition.
Yet this is where a Cape father and son found themselves this week.
On Thursday, after their potentially fatal ordeal, Wolseley wine farmer Prop Lategan and his son Louis were cheery, but still fielding calls with the message: "We can't believe you're alive!"
On Thursday, after their potentially fatal ordeal, Wolseley wine farmer Prop Lategan and his son Louis were cheery, but still fielding calls with the message: "We can't believe you're alive!"
Mid-afternoon on Tuesday, they took to the skies from the tar runway on their farm Bergsig.
"We were on a training flight, headed for Worcester," Lategan said. His son was piloting the plane.
"But after we got airborne, the wheels wouldn't retract fully. I said to him, 'Let's put the wheels down again', but nothing happened.
The aeroplane, a single-engined Cessna 210 Centurion, has two landing gear systems - one hydraulic, one manual - but nothing worked."
They called Stellenbosch air field, where the plane's landing gear had last been repaired.
"But there was no point landing at Stellenbosch without emergency teams, so we decided to declare an emergency and fly to Cape Town International."
Fortunately, Lategan sen is a former commanding officer of 110 SA Air Force Squadron at Ysterplaat and has been a pilot for 46 years. And his son is no slouch either, with 17 years' flying experience.
On arrival, they were instructed to perform a low-level fly-past so that those in the air control tower could inspect their landing gear. The front wheel was half-out, but there was no sign of the main rear wheels.
There was only one option: straight down on to the tar on the plane's belly.
"We decided to do a glide approach and cut the engine completely so that the propeller was still, to minimise damage to the propeller or engine should it cut into the ground.
I was fairly calm, but surely my heart beat a bit faster. I knew our chances were quite good.
"We went through our emergency drills: safety belts extra tight, fire extinguisher ready, doors open" - so that they could sprint away from the aircraft the moment it landed.
"The plane carried 400 litres of aviation fuel "and that can make quite a large fire".
They were asked to land on a secondary runway. Pilots and onlookers held their breaths.
"The right-hand wing touched tar and she started to broadside to the right. I was rather afraid that it could flip on to its back. But fortunately we were not going too fast and we just swung around, facing the direction we'd come from."
"You have three priorities," said Lategan jun. "To get out of the plane alive, to damage the plane as little as possible, and to cause as little havoc as possible on the runway.
"I think we succeeded quite well on the first two, but not the third."
They had been asked to land on a secondary runway, but came to rest dead centre on the main runway.
"There was a delay for the other aircraft, quite a number of passenger aircraft," said Lategan sen. "One circled at Robben Island. And one plane couldn't wait any longer, for fear of running out of fuel, and set off for Port Elizabeth."
They were surrounded by emergency services, which cleared up the mess and called the aircraft back.
"At this stage, we don't know the damage in rands, but it will be quite substantial," said Lategan sen.
"Our phones just don't stop. My wife has a full-time job here at home!"
[email protected]
This article was originally published on page 11 of The Cape Argus on September 16, 2005