Pilot killed in chopper crash

A SEASONED pilot, Doug Castleman, died instantly when a Robinson R22 helicopter crashed on a farm seven kilometres north-east of Mariental on Sunday morning.

Castleman was instructing a student pilot, Arthur Simon, when the accident occurred on the farm owned by Simon’s father, Mariental businessman Bennie Simon. Simon broke his back and is in hospital.The Director of Accidents and Investigations in the Ministry of Works, Kamau Mwangi, confirmed the accident but declined to provide details until preliminary investigations were finalised.He said the Ministry’s accident investigators had spent the whole of yesterday at the crash scene.Castleman’s helicopter accident is the third in which Namibia has lost a seasoned pilot.Others were Piet Stassen, whose helicopter crashed in the river near Kasane in Botswana, and the owner of the Comav aviation company, Danie van der Merwe, who died in August last year when his Robinson R44 helicopter crashed on his farm near Windhoek.”It is a sad story.We have lost a seasoned pilot,” said Wolfgang Grellmann, CEO of Westair, yesterday.Castleman worked for Grellmann two years ago when he was the chief flight instructor at Westair Flight Training Academy and also an official examiner of the Namibian Directorate of Civil Aviation, DCA.Grellmann had known him since he worked for the then Owambo Administration 20 years ago.”He disappeared for some time and I believe he built a boat and went on a cruise but, all of a sudden, reappeared some five years ago.He basically worked for all charter operators at the airport,” Grellmann said.He said the Grade One instructor and examiner had worked on contract basis for the last six months.The ill-fated helicopter was owned by Simon and was mainly used at the farm over the weekends.”He was highly skilled,” Grellmann said of Castleman.”There are very few people with the skills he had”.Mwangi said he would only be able to comment on the details of the accident once his team was back in the city later in the week.Simon broke his back and is in hospital.The Director of Accidents and Investigations in the Ministry of Works, Kamau Mwangi, confirmed the accident but declined to provide details until preliminary investigations were finalised.He said the Ministry’s accident investigators had spent the whole of yesterday at the crash scene.Castleman’s helicopter accident is the third in which Namibia has lost a seasoned pilot.Others were Piet Stassen, whose helicopter crashed in the river near Kasane in Botswana, and the owner of the Comav aviation company, Danie van der Merwe, who died in August last year when his Robinson R44 helicopter crashed on his farm near Windhoek.”It is a sad story.We have lost a seasoned pilot,” said Wolfgang Grellmann, CEO of Westair, yesterday.Castleman worked for Grellmann two years ago when he was the chief flight instructor at Westair Flight Training Academy and also an official examiner of the Namibian Directorate of Civil Aviation, DCA.Grellmann had known him since he worked for the then Owambo Administration 20 years ago.”He disappeared for some time and I believe he built a boat and went on a cruise but, all of a sudden, reappeared some five years ago.He basically worked for all charter operators at the airport,” Grellmann said. He said the Grade One instructor and examiner had worked on contract basis for the last six months.The ill-fated helicopter was owned by Simon and was mainly used at the farm over the weekends.”He was highly skilled,” Grellmann said of Castleman.”There are very few people with the skills he had”.Mwangi said he would only be able to comment on the details of the accident once his team was back in the city later in the week.