forssi
11th Apr 2007, 21:40
Missing pilot found in Kalahari Desert
11/04/2007 20:14 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Missing pilot Charles Wooler was found alive in Botswana on Wednesday, the SA Search and Rescue Organisation (Sasar) said.
"We have found him; he's alive," said spokesperson Santjie White.
"Physically he's okay; he's just exhausted," added Botswana Civil Aviation director Olefile Moakofi.
He said Wooler was found "somewhere around" Khawa, north west of Middlepits, in the Kalahari Desert, at 16:10 on Wednesday.
It was understood that he was spotted from the air and ran to a road on hearing the sound of the Botswana defence force's only helicopter, which was searching for him.
There he came across the crew of ground searchers, who included Botswana police, wildlife and medical personnel, said Moakofi.
He had since been taken to the Tsabong Hospital "for checks", he said.
Wooler went missing in a two-seater Diamond Kakana on Sunday while en route from Keetmanshoop in Namibia to Upington in the Northern Cape.
Note
The search for him was intensified after the aircraft was found earlier on Wednesday in south-western Botswana, an extremely remote area with no cellphone reception and very little radio reception.
It was understood that Wooler left a note in the aircraft, explaining that he left the plane on Monday morning to walk southwards.
Asked why Wooler had made the forced landing, fellow pilot Chris Martinus replied: "Probably because he ran out of fuel."
However, he had not yet spoken to Wooler about what happened and said he was probably going to be incommunicado for a while.
"He was way off course," said Martinus, who had been flying ahead of Wooler in another plane.
It was a "trackless" part of the world with very few landmarks. "If he lost his navigational aids, he was in trouble," he said.
They had not been in sight of each other. "I was, most of the time, 20 miles (40km) ahead of him.
Lost radio contact
"I lost radio contact with him eventually. He was so far away he was out of radio contact."
Martinus and a group of other pilots had waited in Upington for word of Wooler and were getting ready to celebrate at a bar in town.
"In an hour it is going to be very noisy and there are going to be a lot of drunk pilots," he said.
Wooler's worried wife, Maggie, who closeted herself in the couple's home in Northcliff, Johannesburg, throughout the ordeal was still not prepared to speak to the media, said a friend.
The search for Wooler was co-ordinated by Sasar's aeronautical rescue co-ordination centre in Johannesburg, said White, expressing appreciation to all who participated and contributed in the search and rescue operation.
11/04/2007 20:14 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Missing pilot Charles Wooler was found alive in Botswana on Wednesday, the SA Search and Rescue Organisation (Sasar) said.
"We have found him; he's alive," said spokesperson Santjie White.
"Physically he's okay; he's just exhausted," added Botswana Civil Aviation director Olefile Moakofi.
He said Wooler was found "somewhere around" Khawa, north west of Middlepits, in the Kalahari Desert, at 16:10 on Wednesday.
It was understood that he was spotted from the air and ran to a road on hearing the sound of the Botswana defence force's only helicopter, which was searching for him.
There he came across the crew of ground searchers, who included Botswana police, wildlife and medical personnel, said Moakofi.
He had since been taken to the Tsabong Hospital "for checks", he said.
Wooler went missing in a two-seater Diamond Kakana on Sunday while en route from Keetmanshoop in Namibia to Upington in the Northern Cape.
Note
The search for him was intensified after the aircraft was found earlier on Wednesday in south-western Botswana, an extremely remote area with no cellphone reception and very little radio reception.
It was understood that Wooler left a note in the aircraft, explaining that he left the plane on Monday morning to walk southwards.
Asked why Wooler had made the forced landing, fellow pilot Chris Martinus replied: "Probably because he ran out of fuel."
However, he had not yet spoken to Wooler about what happened and said he was probably going to be incommunicado for a while.
"He was way off course," said Martinus, who had been flying ahead of Wooler in another plane.
It was a "trackless" part of the world with very few landmarks. "If he lost his navigational aids, he was in trouble," he said.
They had not been in sight of each other. "I was, most of the time, 20 miles (40km) ahead of him.
Lost radio contact
"I lost radio contact with him eventually. He was so far away he was out of radio contact."
Martinus and a group of other pilots had waited in Upington for word of Wooler and were getting ready to celebrate at a bar in town.
"In an hour it is going to be very noisy and there are going to be a lot of drunk pilots," he said.
Wooler's worried wife, Maggie, who closeted herself in the couple's home in Northcliff, Johannesburg, throughout the ordeal was still not prepared to speak to the media, said a friend.
The search for Wooler was co-ordinated by Sasar's aeronautical rescue co-ordination centre in Johannesburg, said White, expressing appreciation to all who participated and contributed in the search and rescue operation.