ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 244536
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| Date: | Saturday 31 October 2020 |
| Time: | 04:29 UTC |
| Type: |  Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee D |
| Owner/operator: | African Ag Aviation Pty Ltd |
| Registration: | ZS-MAD |
| MSN: | 25-7956032 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1979 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Jacaranda farm, Kirkwood -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | Kirkwood |
| Kirkwood | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On Saturday morning, 31 October 2020, a pilot on-board a Piper PA-25-235D aircraft with registration ZS-MAD took off from a private airstrip in Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape province to perform an insecticide crop-spraying operation on Jacaranda farm. The farm is located approximately 12.2 kilometres (km) from the airstrip where the aircraft took off. The flight was conducted in visual flight rules (VFR) by day under the provisions of Part 137 of the Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) 2011 as amended.
According to the owner of the Jacaranda farm, the pilot was crop-spraying lemon trees at a height of about 50 feet (ft) above ground level (AGL). Approximately 30 minutes into the flight and after the second application run, the aircraft turned right to reposition for the third application run. A witness who is a resident at the farm and was, at the time, inside her house, stated that the aircraft flew over her house twice and, during the third turn, the aircraft sounded like it was flying at a low height. A few seconds later, she heard a loud bang. A second witness stated that she saw the aircraft making a right turn at a low height. Moments later, the aircraft’s right-side wing collided with a tall tree. Following impact with the tree, the aircraft was seen flying in a nose-down attitude. Later, a trail of smoke was seen coming from the direction of the aircraft accident site.
The two witnesses rushed to the accident site but could not help the pilot out of the burning wreckage due to the intensity of the fire. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and post-impact fire. The Aircraft Rescue and Fire-fighting (ARFF) team were called to the accident site and attended to the pilot, however, the pilot had sustained fatal injuries during the accident sequence.
Probable Cause/s and/or Contributory Factors
The pilot misjudged his proximity to the trees during a turn for a third spray run; he collided with one of the trees, resulting in loss of control and the fatal crash.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.algoafm.co.za/local/ec-pilot-killed-in-kirkwood-plane-crash
https://avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=235051 (needs log-in)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 31-Oct-2020 09:19 | gerard57 | Added |
| 31-Oct-2020 15:38 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 01-Nov-2020 12:32 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Feb-2021 18:58 | rudy | Updated [[Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]] |
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