INVESTIGATIONS into the circumstances surrounding the crash of the Cessna 425 twin-engine aircraft are cumbersome.
This was said by the acting director of the Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigations Magnus Abraham who yesterday told The Namibian that investigations were going well but “results will not be available overnight”.
Abraham said it is a cumbersome process that will take some time before they can give feedback on what caused the crash.
The plane crashed on Friday at Hosea Kutako Internatioal Airport killing all three pilots, Uwe Herbert, Fritz Alpers and Ole Friede, on board.
The purpose of the flight was for a renewal test for their instrument ratings.
A statement released by the permanent secretary in the works ministry Willem Goeieman states that the aircraft took off from Eros Airport at around 09h05 to the Hosea Kutako International Airport.
Goeieman said after take-off from Eros, the aircraft climbed to above 10 000 feet above sea level heading for Hosea Kutako International Airport.
“Once they were overhead to Hosea they flew outbound up to nine miles descending to 7 600 feet above mean sea level. At nine miles they turned inbound and continued to descend and align with the runway to simulate a landing and connect the aircraft equipment on board to the ground equipment that is used to land the aircraft in adverse conditions visibility,” he said.
Goeieman said at about 150 feet above the ground, they attempted to go around and climb back to 7 600 feet and do the same procedure.
“Unfortunately the aircraft lost control and impacted the ground close to the threshold of the runway and was engulfed in post-impact fire,” he said.
The site investigation started immediately and was completed on Saturday and the wreckage recovered on Sunday. It is currently stored at Eros Airport for further tests and analyses.
Goeieman said a full-scale investigation was launched and Namibia as the state of occurrence and state of registry has notified and invited the states of manufacture (USA and Canada) to participate in the investigations.
Once the cause of accident is established, a report will be released. Goeieman expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.
tuyeimo@namibian.com.na
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