Two pilots, including a student in training, who were transported to hospital after an emergency crash landing on the R44 have since been discharged.
This according to Natalie Henman, spokesperson for Mediclinic Stellenbosch, following the incident that made headlines last Wednesday (“Aircraft occupants hospitalised after incident on R44,” DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette, 1 June).
The two men were hospitalised with injuries after their light aircraft crash landed on the R44 between Somerset West and Stellenbosh, reportedly around 11:30.
According to ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring, authorities found the men seated near the wrecked aircraft in the middle of the busy arterial route close to Winery Road. “Medics assessed the men and found one had sustained serious injuries, while the other had minor ones,” he said. “Fortunately there were no fatalities.
“The patients were treated and provided with pain-relief medication before being transported to Mediclinic Stellenbosch for urgent care.”
Henman confirmed that they were discharged without admission later that day.
Stellenbosch Municipality, in a statement, issued said all emergency services were on the scene within minutes and police cordoned off the area to traffic for a number of hours for clean-up operations to take place. A total of five municipal emergency response vehicles and firefighting appliances were dispatched to the scene. Due to the road closure, traffic was backed up and diverted via Annandale Road. The road was fully re-opened just after 19:00.
Marie Bray, spokesperson for the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), confirmed their Accident and Incident Investigations Division (AIID) was notified of the incident involving the PA-28R-200 light aircraft. Bray said the aircraft took off from Stellenbosch (FASH) Airport on a training flight with the intention to land back at the same airport. “The pilot reported that after take-off from runway 19 FASH for circuit training and at 300 ft above ground level the engine began to splutter and lost power,” she related. “The instructor spotted the R44 road ahead of them, descended the aircraft and prepared for a forced landing. During the forced landing the aircraft impacted a road sign with the left wing, of which half was severed. The aircraft impacted the road in a nose-down position and the nose and right undercarriage collapsed. The aircraft skidded on the road for a few metres before it came to a stop. Both pilots were taken to hospital; the student pilot sustained serious injuries while the instructor sustained minor injuries.”
The incident recalled memories of a previous emergency crash landing DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette reported on back in 2017 (“Thunder Mustang aircraft crash-lands on Kogel Bay beach,” 23 March 2017). Pierre Gouws, who piloted the Thunder Mustang, escaped death when he crash-landed the aircraft on the beach at a Kogel Bay resort on Thursday 16 March.
