Fatal plane crash caused by stall – report
THE Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has released the final report into a plane crash in which two Port Elizabeth brothers were killed two years ago.
Barney van Eeden and his younger brother, Lumon, died on impact when the Cessna light aircraft Lumon was flying crashed on the Syfergat guest farm in Kruisrivier, about 8km from Uitenhage, on January 7 2012.
The report indicates the accident was caused when the plane stalled while flying at low altitude.
“The investigator is of the opinion that during the practice session, the aircraft at a low altitude in- advertently entered into a stall condition with the right wing producing more lift than the left wing,” the report says.
Under “probable causes”, the report says: “The aircraft entered a spin at low altitude from which the pilot was unable to recover.”
The aircraft was in perfect mechanical condition at the time of the accident, the first fatal one for 2012, according to the CAA.
Lawyer Barney, 37, and Lumon, 35, who was a lecturer at their brother Gerhard’s school, Madiba Bay School of Flight, took off from the Port Elizabeth Airport and headed to the general flying area near Uitenhage as a practice flight on the morning of the crash. Lumon was racking up hours for his commercial pilot’s licence for which he needed a minimum of 200 flight hours. The “best friends” were both bachelors. Gerhard, 47, who has not yet seen the report, said yesterday he had stopped buying the Cessna – which is manufactured overseas – and had bought a fleet of six South African built planes.
“I was always a firm believer in the Cessna aircraft for the training of my students but since the accident I decided to explore more modern aircraft.
“[The South African planes] are just far more modern, safer and user-friendly. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for the accident I would have not even bothered looking at other aircraft,” he said.