Plane Crash
Aircraft accident - ZS FJS
Date: Friday 7 October 2005
Time: About 18h20 South African time
Location: About 3/4 km west of the Louis
Trichardt toll plaza on the N1
Passengers: Myself as pilot in command and
Anwen Zeilstra, age 25 – Frans Dely’s personal assistant
who was hitching a lift with me to the airshow
Pilot’s experience: 1700 hours over
20 years of flying with night rating
Last medical and flight test: December 2004
Aircraft: ZS FJS Cessna 172 K owned by myself
for the past 20 years
This aircraft was superbly equipped with
a total time of 4580 hours on airframe and, as far as I am aware,
has never been involved in an accident before this incident. The
aircraft was equipped with the latest Garmin GNS 430, S TEC 50
auto-pilot, transponder, Icon stand-by radio, engine management
system and various other specialist panel mounted instruments.
At the time of the accident the engine, avionics
and all systems were functioning normally.
Circumstances of the accident:
We took off from FAGM at about 16h00 for
the flight to Air Force Base Makhado for the specific purpose
of attending the ‘Fighter Meet’ that was to be staged
at the base on the Saturday. I made all the relevant telephone
calls to both SA Weather Services and ATC at Makhado before taking
off and was advised that the weather at the destination was clear.
Due to a 15 knot headwind, our flight time was increased by an
estimated 15 minutes, which meant that I would be landing shortly
after sunset, but still within the twilight time. I elected to
over fly Polokwane International Airport at a height of 800 feet
because of low cloud moving in from the east. Polokwane tower
reports that I was overhead at about 18:10 and my last call to
them was at about 18:13 on leaving their traffic zone to the north.
At this time I elected to fly slightly to the west of the N1 highway,
which was well lit by the traffic on the road. As I approached
the Louis Trichardt Toll Plaza, which was very well lit up, I
was aware that the weather was deteriorating and that I should
turn around and return to, and land, at Polokwane Int. All the
time I was transponding and therefore being tracked by Makhado
radar and ATC. The last advisory I received was that they had
me approaching the Toll Plaza and that I should turn left on track
to the base.
This is where everything went wrong. I should
have turned right to a position overhead the Toll Plaza so that
I had good visual reference to follow the road back to Polokwane.
However, I turned left away from the lights and immediately lost
all visual reference, probably because I had entered a low bank
of mist. The next thing I knew was that the headlights of the
Cessna picked up the ground. I pulled the power off and pulled
back on the stick in an attempt to fly the aircraft away from
danger. I was aware of hitting the ground hard and flat, thereafter
tumbling until the fuselage came to rest upside down. I am told
by the CAA accident investigator that the distance from impact
to final rest was 273 metres and that miraculously we missed several
boulder outcrops whilst the bushveld scrub slowed the aircraft
down.
Since we were both alive and I could smell
fuel, my main priority was to get both of us away from the wreck
as soon as possible. The three point harnesses were intact so
I released myself before attending to Anwen, who was in considerable
pain. I managed to get her about 30 metres upwind away from the
wreck before cautiously approaching the aircraft again. At that
stage I knew that I had to get her comfortable and as warm as
possible under the circumstances so I used the aircraft covers,
clothing and my flying suit to cover her. I was afraid that Anwen
might have neck or spinal injuries. She reported that her right
leg was very painful and she had a nasty laceration on her neck.
I used the scattered contents of my medical kit to help apply
pressure to her neck wound which fortunately was not bleeding
too badly. I then removed everything that I could from the wreck
to the position where we were lying on the earth. There I made
a wind break for her head and side with the front seats placed
on their sides. All of this was done in almost total darkness
due to the mist obscuring the moon most of the time.
I remembered that I had a torch in the cubby
of the aircraft and fortunately I had some spare batteries. This
was a very small torch, but it helped me remove further equipment
from the aircraft, including the fire extinguisher, which I placed
next to us. I used the electronic flash gun in my camera case
which we periodically flashed to try and attract the attention
of the search and rescue helicopter. It had already missed our
position on two occasions. Although I was aware of my own injuries,
I regarded Anwen’s as more serious. Only later did I realise
that I had also lost a lot of blood from head injuries. I was
getting cold so I put on all the shirts in my overnight bag as
well as my reflective safety vest.
At this stage we discussed the possibility
of having to spend the night at the crash site and, because I
had visual reference of the Toll Plaza, I decided to attempt a
hike through the rough terrain. My left leg was in considerable
pain which made the hike very difficult. The plan was that Anwen
would keep the flash gun in order to be able to guide me back.
I took my bearings from the moon (it had become visual through
the low mist) as well as the wind and certain geographic features
– water pan, game tracks and a road. When I had travelled
an estimated 1.5 km the helicopter appeared to have returned to
the general area of the crash site. At that point I decided to
return to the crash site, moving as fast as I could through the
bush with only the small torch to illuminate my way. The helicopter
went away again towards the south west when I arrived back at
the crash site, but was always within sight of us. The Nikon flash
light was running low on battery power when I remembered that
my two Nikon cameras also had pop up flashes on them. I pointed
these directly at the helicopter and it was this flash that the
crew thought was the rotating beacon on the aircraft. Thereafter
the highly reflective vest I was wearing helped guide them to
us. I estimate that we spent more than two hours beside the wreck
before being rescued. Only later I found out that we had crashed
into a hunting game farm which was well stocked with – who
knows?
I feel terrible about letting all of aviation
down with this accident because, with my experience and position
in aviation, this sort of situation should never have happened.
There is a great deal to be learned from the issues surrounding
deteriorating weather conditions coupled with the premature night
fall due to incumbent weather. I should have landed at Polokwane
International Airport when I had the chance and phoned for a lift
to AFB Makhado. I am so very sorry that I have put my passenger
through this ordeal and wish her good fortune with a speedy recovery.
Thankfully, she has no spinal on neck injuries, but her tendons
were severed on her right knee. The resulting operation at the
Polokwane Medi-Clinic was successful and she will be in plaster
for the next six weeks. Although I was also pretty badly beaten
up, we were both stabilised and then discharged on Saturday 8
October.
There were many people involved in the successful
search and rescue operation as well as numerous others who quickly
made us as comfortable as possible:
· The Oryx helicopter pilots and medical
crew – what stars you are because this was a difficult and
dangerous mission!
· The SAAF doctor and paramedics who
attended to us at the crash site
· The SAAF accident investigators
and fire personnel from Makhado
· Lt. Col LeRoux Greef and the ATCs
who coordinated the search and rescue immediately we disappeared
from the radar screen at AFB Makhado
· Russell Marsh who, together with
many other SAAF personnel, secured the crash site and assisted
me personally in a time of dire need
· Para-medic Vernon Jovner from ER24
and the ambulance crew at Polokwane who fetched us from the helicopter
and kept me conscious when I was slipping away
· The fantastic medical care of the
doctors, nurses and staff of the Medi-Clinic who kept our families
intimately informed about the situation throughout our treatment.
In particular, Dr. Raul Calokechi and his assistant doctor
· Jean-Pierre Pretorius, Anwen’s
boyfriend, who drove through from Johannesburg on Friday night
and helped both of us through this terrible ordeal
· Frans Dely, who drove through from
Makhado to be with us in the middle of the night and who has shown
fantastic friendship – Frans, you were a rock
· CAA accident investigator, Frank
Masoga, who has helped me piece together some of the issues surrounding
the crash. Frank also helped Jane, my wife, to organise the recovery
of our personal belongings. Thank you Frank for taking the trouble
to personally deliver our baggage to us from Makhado – service
with a smile!
· Retired B747, Capt. Karl Jensen,
first office Neville Austin and the crew of Rovos Air’s
Convair 440 who flew me back to Lanseria and drove me home
· To all our friends who have telephoned
and been there specifically for Jane
· A special thanks to Ella, who spent
the best part of Friday evening with Jane whilst she was waiting
for news from the search and rescue team. Also to Ralf Dominick
who kept Jane informed every few minutes throughout the search
and rescue attempt. Ralf kept Jane sane at a time when everything
else seemed to be falling apart
· Personally I have a very special
thank you to Jane my wife, who kept calm despite the fact that
no one expected us to be found alive. Jane has been a pillar of
strength and deserves a medal
· There are many other people who
were involved and if I have not mentioned your name, I apologise.
I still need time to come to terms with the events of the past
48 hours. I am also aware of the many sympathetic postings on
AvCom – thanks for your support for both Jane and myself.
The purpose of writing this report immediately
after the accident is an honest attempt to help prevent similar
weather related accidents. I sincerely hope that all pilots will
take special care over the coming summer months. Tragically, there
was another Cessna 172 weather related accident near Nelspruit
over this past weekend where all three occupants did not survive.
The African Pilot team offers it’s most sincere and heartfelt
condolences to the families and friends of those that were not
as fortunate as us this weekend. We are all one big family and
we owe it to each other to do everything in our power to help
each other make aviation safer.
Over the coming months I will need to make
a decision on the future of retaining my pilot’s licence
and/or replacing my once trusty Cessna 172. African Pilot will
continue publishing uninterrupted and hopefully this dreadful
situation will have some positive spin off from an aviation safety
perspective where other pilots can learn from the mistakes I made
on Friday evening. I wish you all safe flying, more space between
earth and cloud, happy landings and above all, please have fun.
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