Three die in plane crash at Lanseria Airport
LANSERIA - King Air Beechcraft BE 90 narrowly misses hanger and crashes into embankment.
A private plane flying from Germiston’s Rand Airport crashed at Lanseria Airport on 3 February, killing the pilot and two passengers.
“The King Air Beechcraft BE 90, registration ZS-CLT, had already made contact with the aviation towers at Lanseria to come in for landing,” stated Lanseria spokesperson Claudette Vianello. “Due to the poor visibility through the torrential rainfall, the plane came in too close to one of the hangars.”
“It was speculated that to avoid collision with the hangar, the pilot was forced to make a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) landing of the plane, after which it hit a sandbank less than 500 meters away from the runway,” continued Vianello. A CFIT is described as a landing in which an aircraft under pilot control crashes into the ground, water, mountain or obstacle.
The haul burst into flames, while the tail pummelled down the embankment. The pilot and both passengers were reported to be dead on impact.
Fire fighting and emergency medical teams were on the scene within minutes and the fire was contained swiftly. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials spent the morning investigating the crash before the press was allowed to photograph the scene.
Because the crash did not occur on or near the runway, all flights and functions at Lanseria continued as per normal.
Although the families of the victims have been notified, their names had not yet been released at the time of going to press.
