Among the six occupants aboard the Desert Air owned Cessna 310 was the Managing Director of Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), Tobie Aupindi.

The incident raised eyebrows as only two weeks earlier, a Cessna 210 crashed into a house in Windhoek shortly after taking off from Eros airport, in what has been dubbed the deadliest aircraft accident in Namibia in more than 10 years.

But Desert Air Managing Director Thys Rall insisted yesterday that this past weekend's incident could hardly be described as dangerous, saying it "actually looked worse than it was".

According to Rall, the smoke on the wing was caused by a cracked oil return pipe which leaked oil onto the plane's turbo charger.

"We replaced the pipe immediately and had the passengers sent to Windhoek in another plane [so as] to not delay them, but that plane was good to go on the same day," Rall said.

When contacted about the incident, Ericsson Nengola, Director of Aircraft Accident Investigations in the Ministry of Works, said that Saturday's incident had been reported to his office.

He said that the nature of the problem was still being investigated, and would only comment that "there was something abnormal found with the aircraft".

In a press release yesterday, Namibia Wildlife Resorts thanked the pilot, Abast Iiyambo, for his handling of the situation.

"Recognition must be given to Mr Iiyambo for competently averting what could otherwise have been a serious accident.

His ability to react immediately and professionally to the situation and to keep his calm and composure throughout the incident, are indeed commendable, and his passengers are truly grateful," the NWR said.

The company's MD was returning to Windhoek after meeting a group of tour operators from Germany at the Sossus Dune Lodge on a familiarisation trip to a number of refurbished and new NWR sites

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