Cape Town Incident Evinces Unrest 

In an incident that underscores the duality of human aspiration and endeavor, a student pilot and his instructor—after suffering engine failure and safely landing their light, single-engine airplane in a field near Cape Town, South Africa—were set upon by a crowd that robbed the pair and looted their aircraft. 

Cape Town city spokesperson Eckhardt Winks stated that the light aircraft—the wreckage of which resembles a Piper Cherokee variant—belongs to a local flight-school, and went down after experiencing engine trouble during a 28 June instructional flight.

Upon bringing the stricken airplane to a rough but survivable stop in a field, the flight-instructor radioed the departure airport’s air-traffic control tower and requested immediate assistance, stating that he and his student were being robbed of their personal belongings by a crowd of locals who’d converged upon the crash-site and were about the business of looting the wreckage. 

The City of Cape Town’s Metro Police were first on the scene and secured the area before additional law-enforcement and traffic services arrived. 

The Fire and Rescue Service also dispatched two motor pumps and a rescue vehicle while Airports Company South Africa sent a firefighting appliance that blanketed the aircraft with foam to prevent any ignition.

The police subsequently passed control of the scene to South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for further investigation.

“Because of the actions of the experienced instructor they were able to land the plane in an open field and managed to escape serious injury. Both occupants have been taken in for medical examinations,” Winks stated after the incident. 

Multiple accidents involving African general aviation aircraft have occurred over recent years. The disproportionally high frequency with which African aircraft are lost [compared to the U.S. and Europe] is attributable primarily to poor airport and aircraft maintenance infrastructure; a lack of modern, structured pilot-training; and imperfect oversight of the region’s aviation sector. 

Not surprisingly, the countries with the worst aviation records are places where war and conflict are either raging or have recently subsided. Extremely poor countries, too, have problems with aviation safety.

FMI: https://www.gov.za/