Pilot, The Only Person On Board, Fatally Injured

An Eclipse EA-500 personal jet went down Sunday between Caledon and Swellendam in South Africa. The pilot, 57-year-old Kobus Dicks, was fatally injured in the accident. He was the only person on board the aircraft.

According to information gathered by the Flight Safety Network, Dicks had departed from Lanseria en route to Cape Town, South Africa. Radio contact was lost with the airplane at about 10:15 a.m. local time while cruising at 36,000 feet.

The airplane entered a series of right turns while traveling in an easterly direction. Air Traffic Controllers attempted to contact the plane on all frequencies but were unsuccessful. A gripen jet was scrambled from the Test Flight and Development Center at Air Force Base Overberg near Bredasdorp. That pilot was also unable to make contact with the Dicks. The Eclipse reportedly descended at about 3,700 fpm in a spiral until impacting terrain in an open field south of Swellendam.

The South African Air Force reported that the Eclipse "disintegrated on impact and no post-impact fire was observed."

Air Traffic Navigational Service spokesperson Percy Morokane confirmed the crash and said the South African Department of Transport’s Air Crash Investigative Unit would investigate the incident. Authorities have cited pilot incapacitation or hypoxia as possible reasons for the plane's erratic flight path and the inability to contact the pilot.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.caa.co.za