Incident Overview
Description
The DC-3 passenger plane operated flight SA-512 from Cape Town to Collondale, South Africa with several intermediate stops. According to the co-pilot the aircraft flew below the clouds at about 300-500 ft above the ground. It was the pilot-in-command’s intention to fly through the Katberg Pass below cloud and as the aircraft approached the mountains the cloud ceiling became lower and the pilot was faced with a critical situation. He called for METO (maximum except takeoff) power and in an attempt to clear the hills the right wing first made contact with the trees and then the right engine propeller cut into the rising ground. The aircraft came to rest against a rock face approximately 250 yd from the initial point of impact with the trees and approximately 500 ft from the top of the hill. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The accident was attributed to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot-in-command who attempted low visual flight, beneath the cloud base, near mountains in deteriorating weather conditions.”
Primary Cause
Pilot-in-command error of judgment regarding low visual flight near mountains in deteriorating weather conditions.Pilot-in-command error of judgment regarding low visual flight near mountains in deteriorating weather conditions.Share on:
