Pilot ‘lucky to be alive’
A well-known Cape pilot and her co-pilot narrowly escaped death after their Tigermoth aircraft had crashed on the farm Groot Phesantekraal outside Durbanville on Sunday. Pat Evans, 60, and Rene Theron, 57, both from Kommetjie, were admitted to Durbanville Medi-Clinic with slight injuries. Pietro Guerrini, Evans’s cousin, said he couldn’t believe his aunt had crashed her Tigermoth. She had been flying for the past 20 years and had logged thousands of flight hours. He said she was one of the most careful and safe pilots he knew and this was her first flight accident. “I’m just glad Pat and Rene are safe. Pat suffered a blow to her right cheek and Rene suffered slight injuries to her lower back.” He said he had often flown with Evans, who was a brilliant pilot and flight instructor. “She said she didn’t know exactly what had happened. She was on her way to the annual air show of the Tygerberg model airplane club outside Durbanville. She was planning to do a few aerobatics to entertain the crowd.
“People said she wanted to fly underneath a powerline but instead hit it. I can’t believe she’d have attempted to do that,” Guerrini said. A witness, Hendre van Rensburg, 15, said he and a friend Stephen Maritz, 15, saw the accident. They were selling tickets at the airshow. “We saw the Tigermoth coming in low. The plane’s tail touched the powerline and the nose hit the ground before the plane tilted back and landed on its belly.” Jason Dawson, a photographer for SA Model Flying and a trained paramedic, was one of the first people at the accident site. He said the women were lucky to be alive. An old friend and co-pilot, who didn’t want to be named, said Evans was well-known for her high safety standards. He believed it was a freak accident. “Fortunately the Tigermoth can fly only about 60 miles an hour. If it had gone any faster, they might both have been dead.” The Civil Aviation Association will release its findings about the accident later this week.
Can’t find that this has been reported elsewhere. The plane is ZS-DEC and I think the crash happened on the 12th. Hope all survive.
By: The Blue Max - 17th November 2005 at 19:51
[QUOTE=Gaxan]Pat and Rene out of hospital and all OK. Pat very cheerful considering!
Thats good news.
By: Gaxan - 17th November 2005 at 18:38
DEC Crash
Pat and Rene out of hospital and all OK. Pat very cheerful considering!
Tiger a write off- Insurance purposes I guess?
By: Gaxan - 16th November 2005 at 18:04
Power Lines
Pat told me that she did not see the lines in time, there was a low grey overcast and the grey power lines merged into the gloom. She saw them at the last moment, pitched up but caught the tail wheel on one. Pat flies at this show every year, unlucky this time!
By: RPSmith - 16th November 2005 at 14:32
Pity more countries don’t adopt the Belgian (and French?) scheme of fitting brightly painted balls on those cables near airfields.
When I was touring the continent (by road) many years ago they were highly visible – and helped us locate the airfields too!
Bit off topic but do many other countries use them?
Good wishes to the two ladies.
Roger Smith.
By: GASML - 16th November 2005 at 14:04
I guess Pat and Rene are very lucky ladies.
They’re far from being the first to have tangled with power lines, I’m just so glad in this case they’ve escaped serious injury. Here’s to a prompt recovery and to Pat, Rene and ‘DEC all getting back into the air soon.
By: The Blue Max - 16th November 2005 at 13:58
Sometimes these things can be terribly hard to spot, although you may see the towers the wires can still be very difficult, especially in bright sunhine, belive me i know!! good to hear all will make a full recovery, im sure even the Tiger will in time
By: David Burke - 16th November 2005 at 10:10
Kukri – without wishing to prejudge it – the power lines are a fairly static item so I guess the Tiger Moth got too close to them .
By: Newforest - 16th November 2005 at 09:26
Found a photo of the crash. Should be repairable, eventually. Old Tigers never die! 🙂 What do you think the white objects by the engine cowling are?
By: kukri - 16th November 2005 at 09:10
Good news – alucky escape
Would be interested to know the reason for catching the power lines.
Any news on the Tiger Moth?
By: Gaxan - 15th November 2005 at 20:44
ZS DEC Crash
You will all be pleased to know that Pat Evans is recovering in hospital after surgery today to mend some broken bones in her face. I have spoken to Pat via SMS and to her daughter by phone.
By: kukri - 14th November 2005 at 17:45
Hi
This actually happened on Sunday morning – probably about 2 or 3 km from where I stay – they had it on the news last night showing amateur footage of the Tiger Moth clipping the power lines (complete with “Hollywood” sparks 😉 ).
No further news, but it may be that the pilot didn’t see the power lines in time. By the sounds of it, everybody survived – dunno if the tiger will make it – would be a shame if it didn’t.
Rory
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November 14, 2005 at 12:38 pm