Aircraft crash at Wonderboom (no fatalaties reported)

[Capetonian]

UPDATE: Pilot in critical condition, about 20 injured in Wonderboom plane crash
2018-07-10 17:24

Approximately 20 people were injured when a plane crashed at Wonderboom in Pretoria, ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said in Tuesday. "Their injuries range from minor to critical," he said.

Meiring said they had two air ambulance helicopters on the scene as well.He said they were not able to comment on what caused the accident at this stage.

"Initial reports from the aircraft crash in Wonderboom has left allegedly 20 people injured, at least one critically," ER24 tweeted.

Best Care ambulance services' Xander Loubser said reports indicated that the charter plane was carrying passengers on an international flight.

He said the pilot was in a critical condition following the crash.

Emer-g-med's Jurgen Kotze, who said they were the first responders to the accident, said four people including the pilot sustaining critical injuries.

"The pilot is still entrapped in the cockpit of the airplane and sustained critical injuries. We are still treating him on scene," he said.

Kotze said the remaining passengers' injuries range from minor to moderate.

[Boac]

A couple of pics, Cape. Not looking good for the front seats.

SA2.jpg (69.76 KiB) Viewed 558 times

SA1.jpg (44.45 KiB) Viewed 558 times

[Cacophonix]

Starboard engine failure/engine fire on take off, speed drops below VMCA? Loss of critical engine on day where increased density altitude may have been a critical factor. Wonderboom is up at 4,095 feet + hot day even in winter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderboom_Airport

Convair 340...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_CV-240_family

Caco

[Cacophonix]

Rovos Air -> Martin Air Charter (Martinair) last ferry flight to the Netherlands.

From Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rovos_Air

Rovos Air was established in 2002 by Rohan Vos, the owner of Rovos Rail, the operator of the prestigious Pride of Africa. The company operated tourist traffic between Pretoria and Victoria Falls offering passengers a nostalgic flight in yesterday's aircraft, such as the one shown on the right, being fully refurbished and fitted with luxury seats to match the saloon wagon in their train.

In 2009, Rovos Air was sold to TIM Holdings (PTY) LTD. Rovos Air, trading as Gryphon Airlines, now operates MD-83 and DC-9 aircraft providing charter flights in Africa, the Middle East and South Central Asia.

Some talking about a test flight (with passengers?) before the last of the two Convair CV340's previously owned by Rovus Air flew off to its new home at Aviodrome Lelystad (an aircraft Museum) in the Netherlands in the colours of the Martin Air Charter (now Martinair).

Rovos Air CV340.JPG (52.54 KiB) Viewed 545 times

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Rovos-Ai ... 40/5070365

The other ex Rovus CV 340 was ferried to a museum in Australia in 2016.

The Historical Aviation Restoration Society’s latest acquisition, a Trans-Australia Airlines-painted Convair CV-440, has arrived at its new home.

The aircraft, ZS-ARV, landed at HARS’s Illawarra Regional Airport/Albion Park home base on August 21 after ferrying in from Wonderboom, South Africa via Beira in Mozambique, the Seychelles, Mattala in Sri Lanka, Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Denpasar in Indonesia before reaching Darwin. It then stopped in Mt Isa and Dubbo before touching down at Albion Park on Sunday.

The Convair was originally scheduled to be ferried to Australia in May or June, but was delayed as more testing was required and avgas fuel supplies needed to be firmed up at various transit points for the trip to Australia.

HARS decided to paint the aircraft in TAA colours even though the airline never operated the CV-440. Instead TAA operated five of the earlier CV-240, while Ansett operated three CV-340s and six CV-440s (and the RAAF two 440s for VIP transport). However, as HARS already has two aircraft painted in Ansett colours, it elected to be a bit different.

The Convair is now the second TAA-painted aircraft to call HARS home after the arrival of the historic DC-3 VH-AES Hawdon, the very first aircraft operated by TAA, on June 12.

https://hars.org.au/convair-440/

Caco

[ian16th]

URL with pics here.

[Cacophonix]

Convair: from Africa to Aviodrome
The journey has begun! In This first episode gets you acquainted with the aircraft, you see images of the first test flights and you experience how Aviodrome is being prepared for this historic plane's journey.
Aviodrome gets iconic historic passenger plane from South Africa

Aviodrome is committed to the arrival of a very special aircraft for the Netherlands, the Convair 340. The aircraft built in 1954 was donated by the South African owner, Rovos Rail, to Aviodrome. After the necessary technical work, the Convair will fly across Africa and Europe to its new home base Aviodrome at Lelystad Airport this summer. The cost of €350,000 for the preparation of the aircraft, the purchase of various spare parts and the exciting crossing, will be borne by Aviodrome. The arrival of the Convair is a very welcome extension to the collection of flying aircraft of Aviodrome, because this iconic aircraft was key to the emergence of the (mass) tourism....

Used for luxury Air safaris
The South African Rovos Rail offered luxury ' air Safaris ' in a Convair across southern Africa up until 2009. They did this in combination with organised train travel. Due to various circumstances the aircraft was scrapped by Rovos Rail and it was put up for sale. In March 2018 it became clear that the owner wanted to offer the Convair a good future and therefore they decided to donate the Convair to Aviodrome. In the coming weeks the last parts have been ordered, the airplane was technically prepared and various preparations for the crossing have taken place. The Convair will soon be seen by visitors of Aviodrome as part of the collection. It will regularly start the engines for maintenance and during the flying season, for A.O. special occasions, to choose the airspace.

From Africa to Aviodrome
Around 12 July 2018 the aircraft will start the flight from South Africa....

https://www.aviodrome.nl/convair/



Real pity it came such an end.

Caco

[Capetonian]

Even worse news is that one person (pilot?) is reported dead.

[Cacophonix]

Even worse news is that one person (pilot?) is reported dead.

Really sad. I see that both the flying crew were Australians (vide ian16th's url) but as the rest of the AfricanPilot report is wrong I am apt to discount these "facts" for the moment. The aircraft was due to fly to the Netherlands, not New Zealand.

Tragic for all concerned and sad that such an enthusiastic and committed museum should have such a tragedy blight the flight.

Caco

[Cacophonix]

Well at least IOL.CO.ZA got it basically right...

Pretoria - A Dutch aerospace museum has said it was shocked to learn of a plane crash in Tshwane that left one person dead and 19 others injured.

The vintage plane crashed on Tuesday after it took off on a test flight from the Wonderboom airport in Pretoria

The Convair plane -- built in 1954 -- was due to soon be flown to the Aviodrome air museum, near the central Dutch city of Lelystad, after reportedly being renovated at the small airport.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa ... h-15941605

African Pilot has really gone downhill, both technically and as a news source over the last couple of years. I wonder what Athol Franz is going to do about it?

I let my subsctiption lapse last year


Caco

[TheGreenGoblin]

The prop was windmilling. Unfeathered? It appears they hadn't recognized the port engine problem!

The Accident and Incident Investigations Department of the South African Civil Aviation Authority began an investigation, and pledged to have an initial report within 30 days of the crash. A preliminary report was released in August 2018. It said the pilots did not follow the prescribed checklist procedures when they discovered an engine had caught fire. Recovered video footage from the cockpit showed the captain was the pilot flying, while the first officer was doing the radio work. The footage also showed the licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (LAME) operating the engine controls. Further, “during taxi, takeoff and flight, until moments before the crash, one of the passengers was seen standing in the cockpit area behind the LAME. “The GoPro also shows that the pilots were not sure if they had retracted the landing gears, as they can be heard asking each other whether the gears are out or not. It also shows that though the pilots and LAME were informed of the left engine fire, they were asking each other which engine was on fire,” the preliminary report reads. The GoPro footage also showed that “at no stage did the pilots or the LAME discuss or attempt to extinguish the left engine fire, as the left engine fire extinguishing system was never activated”. The preliminary report noted the aircraft was certified for operation by two pilots and it was “not clear why the LAME was allowed to operate the engine controls during the operation of the aircraft” and noted “crew resource management in the cockpit was found lacking”.

The Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa released its final report on 28 August 2019. In the report it indicated that the probable cause of the accident was poor maintenance of the engines and multiple mistakes by unqualified pilots, such as continuing the flight after the left engine had caught fire. Early indications of the engine fault were misdiagnosed by maintenance personnel as an instrument reading erratically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Pret ... _340_crash

https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20180710-0

[Boac]

Amazing and horrific footage.