Possible foul play at Eros Airport

THE investigation into the emergency landing of a Cessna 172 plane in Windhoek’s Prosperita area on Wednesday has found that a small plastic bag containing ‘rivets and nuts’ caused the accident.

According to Ericksson Nengola, Director of Aircraft Accident Investigations in the Ministry of Works and Transport, his division has completed 75 per cent of the investigation.
‘The causal factor has been discovered as a blockage in engine air intake, caused by a foreign object not belonging to the aircraft, which led to the loss of engine power, thereby necessitating an emergency landing. In aviation, minor errors such as this are unacceptable,’ Nengola said.
He added that the usual causes of engine failure include ‘fuel starvation, magneto malfunction [where certain components providing electrical power to the aircraft malfunction], ignition failure, obstructions, electrical failure and oil starvation.’
Nengola said the Namibian Police Forensic Unit has been involved in the investigation to determine whether the bag was left in the engine because of negligence or whether foul play may have been involved.
‘Once the Police have completed their investigations into the presence of the object, we will then continue with the normal aircraft investigations,’ Nengola said.
Inspector Cathleen Araes, unit commander of Windhoek’s fingerprint division, confirmed that her unit is assisting in the investigation, and described the ‘foreign object’ as a small plastic bag similar to those used by banks.
She said the bag would be dusted for fingerprints to identify the people who had handled it.
Deputy Commissioner Godfried Khariseb, who is heading the Police investigation, confirmed that the contents of the plastic bag included rivets and nuts.
‘The investigation is still very fresh and we are trying to establish all the possibilities of the cause of the accident, including mechanical problems, technical issues, human error, and so on. So we aren’t making any conclusions at this moment.’
Khariseb said the investigation is expected to take about a week.
The Cessna 172 made an emergency landing on Wednesday morning on Michelle McLean Street in Prosperita, Windhoek. This was Namibia’s first aviation accident of the year, and followed an unusually large number of accidents last year.
The landing itself was successfully executed, but the plane crashed when the left wing hit a street sign, causing the aircraft to swing to the right, and the undercarriage to hit the pavement and detach in the process.
The plane, belonging to the Windhoek Flight Training Centre, was carrying two people – Wimpie Coetzee, the 24-year-old privately licensed pilot who is aspiring to obtain his commercial pilot’s licence, and his father, Willem Coetzee, who was his only passenger. Both escaped the accident unscathed.
Nengola said the pilot had done all the necessary checks – which include a ground run, pre-flight checks, in-flight and pre-landing checks.
Everything was fine until the final landing check, when the air blockage caused by the object made it impossible for the pilot to apply carburettor heat, causing the engine to fail.