ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 17859
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| Date: | Friday 18 April 2003 |
| Time: | 16:33 |
| Type: |  Cessna 172K |
| Owner/operator: | Jagga Aviation Investments (Pty) Ltd |
| Registration: | ZS-MEE |
| MSN: | R172-2440 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | ca 16nm SW of Upington -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | FACT (Cape Town International) |
| FAUP (Upington) | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The private pilot was accompanied by her boy-friend on a flight from Cape Town International Airport to Upington to collect her brother before flying to Kuruman to visit family. The pilot filed a VFR flight plan from Cape Town to Upington, routing from Cape Town to Fisantekraal at 2500ft and then direct to Upington at FL095 with a cruise speed of 110 knots. The estimated flight time was 3 hours and 30 minutes with an endurance of 4 hours and 50 minutes. The aircraft departed Cape Town International at 12:26 and routed towards Fisantekraal but soon after take-off, the aircraft lost power and started to descend, due to an incorrect mixture setting which was set too lean. The pilot notified ATC of the problem and the correct mixture setting procedures were relayed to her by the ATC who had contacted an instructor at the flying school where she had hired the aircraft. After she set the mixture full rich, the aircraft climbed normally and after reaching Fisantekraal climbed to FL095 and routed to Upington via Moreesburg, Porterville, Calvinia and Keimoes. At 15:36 the pilot established contact with Upington ATC and she stated that she was lost and had lost track of her position. She remained unsure of her position and various discussions followed in which the ATC attempted to identify her position from landmarks in her vicinity. She remained unsure of her position and phoned her friend on her cell phone, who was able to assist her in setting up the aircraft's VOR for the UPV (Upington) beacon. At that stage she was on a radial of 250 and subsequently steered a heading of 070°M towards UPV. According to her friend, the pilot also expressed a concern regarding the fuel state of the aircraft and stated that the mixture was set for a fuel flow of 8.5 U.S. Gal. per hour. With a useable fuel quantity of 49 U.S. Gal and an elapsed flight time of 3 hours and 48 minutes, her friend did not foresee a fuel problem and the pilot proceeded towards Upington. At 16:24 the pilot re-established contact with Upington ATC and following the telephone conversation with her friend, sounded much more relaxed and self assured than during previous transmissions. She reported that she was definitely on her way to Upington and that she was East of Keimoes. In discussion with ATC he also asked her how much fuel she had onboard to which she replied that she had 50 minutes fuel left. At 16:27 the pilot reported that she had an engine problem and ATC advised her to continue to Upington and gave her the prevailing surface wind conditions. At that stage the pilot stated that she was approximately 5nm from Upington. She continued flying towards Upington and was advised by ATC to use the tar road (M14) for landing if she was not able to reach Upington. The pilot continued routing towards Upington and at 16:30 reported that she was executing a forced landing. An eye-witness who was travelling from Upington towards Keimoes on the M14 road, stated that he saw the aircraft flying at very low altitude across the road from right to left (West to East). The aircraft was flying so low that he thought that the aircraft was busy crop-spraying. He then saw the aircraft u201Cflicku201D around to the right and impact the ground in the direction from which it had come. He rushed to the scene and found the badly damaged aircraft lying inverted on its roof. The passenger survived the accident but the pilot was fatally injured.
Probable Cause :
Engine failure occurred as a result of fuel exhaustion. The pilot failed to maintain flying speed and lost control of the aircraft prior to colliding with the ground. In the ensuing collision the pilot sustained fatal injuries and the passenger was seriously injured. Contributory factors were the following: Unfamiliarity of aircraft systems; Due to adverse weather on route to Upington, the pilot had to deviate from her planned routing and in the process became lost. Although the pilot realized that her fuel was running low, she neglected to carry out a timeous precautionary landing and allowed the engine to fail as a res
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. SACAA
2. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1349522,00.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2008 02:23 | Topaz | Added |
| 17-Dec-2020 17:38 | TB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
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